Saturday night’s all right for crashin’
So, it was about 12:45 last night, Terri had already turned in, and I was just heading upstairs, when I heard this terrible crashing outside the house. I ran downstairs and looked out through the front door, and saw a plain white Suburban revving and going forward and backward trying to get out of the across-the-street neighbors’ front yard (this is Somerville: nobody’s front yard is that big). He managed to get out and pealed up the street (the wrong way). A woman came out of the house and looked over and said “Oh, my God, my car!” so I figured I should go out and let her know that I at least saw the car, even if I was at a bad angle to get the license.
When I got outside, I could see that not only had this guy crashed into the car in our neighbor’s driveway, he had taken also taken out a traffic light pole, two USPS mailboxes, all their hedges, part of their porch railing, and had pushed their parked car through the other neighbor’s
fence.
Two police cruisers were on the scene in about a minute, and barely stopped to get what we saw. I guess they figured they didn’t need to stay for all the details, since if they acted fast, they could probably catch up to the guy. After meeting some of the neighbors who had come out of their houses, and learning that some other people got a much better view of what happened than I did, I went back in and told everyone to let me know if they needed me for the police report. It was cold, and I figured Terri was wondering what the heck was going on.
An officer buzzed in a few minutes, and I told him what I saw, so I went back out to see if there was any news, and indeed, the guy had been caught on College Ave, though the police declined to tell us any more.
Big excitement for a Saturday night! Usually the best we get is just drunk Tufts students whooping it up or using our hedges as a cupholder.
The snapshots are from this morning, and the mailboxes were cleared away.
March 27th, 2006 at 9:07 am
Holy moley! This was definitely an exciting Saturday night! Nothing like that happens in Montclair (though I guess that is good). I’d love to hear the follow up as to this guy’s “excuse” for his behavior.
March 27th, 2006 at 11:44 am
We may never know if he has an excuse of any sort. I think today some men are working on re-installing the knocked-down traffic light.
March 27th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
Yike-aroonies! I hope that the perp wasn’t all hopped up on Danish Pastry House delicacies.
March 28th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
It sounds like he was all hopped-up on something, and feeling terribly wronged by somebody. It seems I was wrong about the traffic light, but the mailboxes have been replaced and we have several new “wrong way” signs.
March 28th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a white Suburban, and destruction everywhere…
(sorry, but your first two sentences made me think of this…)
May 14th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
This reminds me of this time when we lived in the buckhead appartment in Chicago. It was right at the corner by a park, and an a block over was Western, west of which was not so nice. Anyway, Tara and I are out walking the dog one nice summer night when they were getting set up for the arts festival there. So, there was a portapotty (A “Drop (Z)one”) on the nearest park corner. So, kind of odd at 11 pm, some guy goes into the portajohn. “Probably just coming from the bar, saw an opportunity NOT to piss in the alley… good for him” At about the point when I’m thinking the ellipsis, a car stopped at the stop sign right in front of us just starts to peel out. Tara and I jump back, aghast at the jerk who almost ran over us and the dog. Just as we THINK the guy is going tear down the street and down towards wester… BANG! into the portapotty, just recently occupied, which then goes THUNK THUNK on to the hood of the car. Which then proceeds to tear off to western. Fortunately, noone was hurt, and the guy inside was a bit shaken, but it was the weirdest hit and run I have ever seen.