Monday, November 23, 2009

at least I haven't been literally run over lately...

Thursday night, on the way to swimming lessons, Maxwell and I witnessed a guy get hit by a car at the intersection of 52nd and Lincoln.

It was as creepy as it sounds.

The car that hit him was moving pretty slowly, so he didn't fly up into the air, or hit the windshield, the way it happens in the movies. He just sort of rolled, like a somersault, across the crosswalk to the curb, where he came to a stop, and then crawled onto the sidewalk.

The car that hit him was a big cream colored Cadillac, driven by a very well dressed elderly man.

The elderly man pulled his big cream car over, but didn't get out and check on the fellow he had hit, for a long time, like maybe five minutes.

I pulled over, found a place to park, waited for the light, and crossed the street and was there talking to the victim, for a long time before the guy got out of the car.

The man that was hit, was wearing all black, including a hood. He was extremely unpleasant, which I think was his personality, not just a result of having just been rolled across the cross walk, by a Cadillac.

He was snarling at me, to give him the address, so he could tell the 911 operator where to send and ambulance.

He had a cell phone, and didn't need to use mine.

When the elderly gentleman did get out, all he said over and over was

"I just didn't see you" to the hit guy.

"I just didn't see him" , to me.

I felt really sorry for the old guy, since I also didn't see the man in black, and easily could have run him over, had I been one car ahead in the line.

2 comments:

  1. ugh, i see people walking late in dark clothing *all the time* now that i'm on my bike a lot in the hawthorne 'hood. i can barely see them, and i'm not much of a threat. and my bike sucks, so it's always making a lot of noise as i approach, which helps them identify me as a moving object - assuming they don't have headphones in.

    why don't people choose pleasantly eye-stabbing colors for after-dark pedestrianism? i'm not blaming the victims, i just want us all to do our part here.

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  2. hallie, this dude, was such an asshole, I totally wanted to blame him!

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