Around 3:00 PM, as I was sitting at my computer, I heard a pretty loud *crunch* from outside. The sound was akin to what a tree would sound like, after it's been hit by a car going at around 5 or 10 mph. It was a healthy crunch.
Liz was in our office at the time, and we both peered outside the window (we're up on the 2nd story, and our windows face out to Fairfield). We saw a large U-Haul truck, turning on to Fairfield from the alleyway. The alley itself is technically one-way, going out to California... so this truck was definitely going the wrong way. But it had cut the turn on to Fairfield too sharply, and was crushed up against a car parked by the alleyway.
From our vantage point, it took me a while to figure out what was going on. Based on the sound, I thought that the U-Haul had run in to the light post or an actual tree near by. But as it slowly pulled through the alley onto our street, it became very clear that they had hit the car.
The guy on the passenger side opened the door up, and looked backwards at where the truck had hit the parked car. He closed the door, and the U-Haul basically continued on its way. As it did so, you could hear a lot of crunching and stuff/glass breaking.
As the U-Haul passed by our window, I looked in and noticed a man was driving. I couldn't see his face, but he had on a thick jacket with a "#24" on his left arm. It took me a few seconds, but it dawned on me that he wasn't stopping.
I grabbed my camera and ran in to the sun room, which faces Logan Boulevard. Liz was telling me that she could hear other people (our neighbor Liz in particular) yelling out their windows at the truck. By the time I got to the front room and had my camera out, the truck was too far gone for me to get any kind of useful photo.
Here's the shot I got. If this were a fancy police drama on TV, this is the point where someone would tell me to "zoom in" so that the pixelated plates would become clear. No such luck. I got more tree than truck.
I threw on my coat and grabbed my phone and camera. I figured since I had seen the whole thing, I wanted to convey what info I had to the person whose car got smashed up. By the time I got out the alley/car, there was another car just sort of parked next to it.
As I neared, I saw that there was a woman driver, and a small girl sitting on the passenger side. The window opened up and I found out the woman also saw the whole thing.
I guess she was on Fairfield when the U-Haul came through, saw the hit, and followed the U-Haul long enough to get the license plate and truck numbers. She then made it a point to circle back, and was in the process of writing up a note to leave on the windshield.
Lucky thing, as my photo wouldn't have led to squat.
Thanks to Laverne, we had info that could help track down the U-Haul. I asked for her name and her cell, and took over the note. The owner of the car was still nowhere to be found. I spoke to our neighbor Liz briefly (she was leaning out her window), and our other neighbor Rich came out. His car was the one directly in front of the one that was hit. Though it didn't suffer much damage, he drove over to the nearby U-Haul rental location on Western, to see what info he could find.
I called 311 and reported the hit and run. I gave the plate and truck info that Laverne had written down, and left my name and cell number. I was told to wait on the corner for a police car to arrive, but no specific ETA was given.
While I was waiting, I decided to snap a few photos. Habit, I guess. Lots of debris in the street from the busted out taillight.
Here's a side view of the damage. The bumper is pretty mangled, and looks like it's barely clinging on.
Another view of the bumper.
After I was done documenting, and the call was made in to the Police, I still felt a certain urgency. The owner of the car still hadn't shown up, and as someone who saw the whole thing happen... I felt like it was up to me to make sure some kind of conclusion was reached: I needed to make the report to the police, I needed to get the details in so the U-Haul driver could be found, and I needed to tell the owner of the car what happened.
I was outside for about 30 minutes, until the cop showed up. I could have gone in, but for whatever reason I felt like maybe the cop might just swing by, find no one waiting, and then just leave. So I waited around on the street corner. As people walked by who turned on to Fairfield, I asked if they drove a 4 door, silver Honda Civic... hoping to maybe chance on the owner of the vehicle. No luck.
When the cop arrived, I flagged him down and told him I was the one how phoned in the report. He asked if I was the owner of the car, and when I told him "no" he said that there was nothing more he could do. The owner of the car would have to call Chicago PD and file a report.
This, I have to say, was incredibly frustrating. I had the license number for the truck, as well as the truck ID. I had info on what the driver was wearing. There were at least four witnesses (me, Liz, Laverne and our neighbor Liz) who saw the whole thing. There was a nearby U-Haul location about 3 blocks away. There was, in my mind, action that could still be taken to track the U-Haul driver down.
In hindsight, I guess there needs to be an actual claim or charge filed, before any of those steps can be pursued? I have no idea. I just felt incredibly powerless at that moment, as I thought I had a ton of evidence and information, but no way to actually set things in motion. I saw someone do wrong, and there wasn't any way I could make things right.
The cop left and all I could do was to add my name to Laverne's note. I put down my address and cell, and left it on the car windshield. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, I kept looking over to the car and still saw my note attached. Liz and I went out a bit later in the evening, and I think that when we came home, the note was gone.
So far, I haven't gotten a call about the accident, or heard from the owner of the car. My one hope is that U-Haul has good records, and that the driver will ultimately be tracked down.
Tonight, some 8 hours later, I'm feeling like I have all these tiny pieces to a story. And so far, I haven't been able to get the kind of ending that I want to see happen. The cop didn't want to hear what I had to say, and I haven't been able to talk to the owner of the car.
I'm a good neighbor, and I've done more than my share to help with the situation. Sure, I understand that. But the fact that this thing is hanging out there, hanging in the air, unresolved and without closure... it's just bugging the ever-loving crap out of me.
// Edit: I was wrong about the note being gone. It's 5:13 PM on Sunday (the day after), and the note is still on the windshield.
// Edit: I did end up getting a call from the car owner, later on Sunday evening. She sounded pretty ok, all things considered, and thanked me for the info and for watching out. I told her about this blog post (which was a bit odd, but I'm hoping it's more helpful than awkward). Really hope she's able to track down the drivers, and get them to pay for all the damages.
