Waiting on the police...
By Yuki
@yukimori (10143)
United States
March 23, 2016 4:09pm CST
Not what I had in mind at all today, but here I sit waiting for a callback from an officer.
My husband and I decided to try out the brand-new ramen place for lunch this afternoon. The food was delicious, and the portions were generous. I think we're definitely going to add it to our short list of places to eat when we're feeling too lazy to cook for ourselves. 
Anyway, after we ate and moseyed on over to the grocery store to pick up my prescription. When we got back to my car, I got distracted by the adorable sunglass-wearing dog in the bed of the truck two spaces over from me, and IT happened.
My door slipped out of my hand and tapped the truck next to me. I checked the spot it had hit for damage, didn't see any, and got in.
As soon as my door closed, the door of the truck I tapped flew open and slammed into my car. 
The guy inside glared at us for about 15-20 seconds, then settled back to resume... whatever he'd been doing.
Yeesh. 
I circled around and took a photo of his truck before we headed home, and decided that I'd file a police report if there was any visible damage to my car from the impact.
Naturally, there was. 
He left an almost foot long vertical dent between the rear door and the fuel door, complete with missing paint. 
So I called, and started this discussion while waiting for an officer to get back to me to take a report. Since he got back to me while I was working on it, I can tell you that the gentleman is potentially facing charges of criminal damage and disorderly conduct. The officer mentioned that there's a possibility he could try to claim criminal damage against me because my door did initially hit his truck. And honestly, if I did cause damage that I missed during my quick inspection I'd be more than happy to take care of it in the appropriate manner!
I wonder if he thought he wouldn't face any consequences because my car looks like a junker... I haven't bothered to fix the cosmetic damage to it because it runs just fine the way it is. 
Anyway, after we ate and moseyed on over to the grocery store to pick up my prescription. When we got back to my car, I got distracted by the adorable sunglass-wearing dog in the bed of the truck two spaces over from me, and IT happened.
My door slipped out of my hand and tapped the truck next to me. I checked the spot it had hit for damage, didn't see any, and got in.
As soon as my door closed, the door of the truck I tapped flew open and slammed into my car. The guy inside glared at us for about 15-20 seconds, then settled back to resume... whatever he'd been doing.
Yeesh.
I circled around and took a photo of his truck before we headed home, and decided that I'd file a police report if there was any visible damage to my car from the impact.
Naturally, there was. He left an almost foot long vertical dent between the rear door and the fuel door, complete with missing paint.
So I called, and started this discussion while waiting for an officer to get back to me to take a report. Since he got back to me while I was working on it, I can tell you that the gentleman is potentially facing charges of criminal damage and disorderly conduct. The officer mentioned that there's a possibility he could try to claim criminal damage against me because my door did initially hit his truck. And honestly, if I did cause damage that I missed during my quick inspection I'd be more than happy to take care of it in the appropriate manner!
I wonder if he thought he wouldn't face any consequences because my car looks like a junker... I haven't bothered to fix the cosmetic damage to it because it runs just fine the way it is. 17 people like this
17 responses
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104632)
• United States
23 Mar 16
Is it hot where you are? Maybe he had been sititng in his truck for too long and the heat got to him. I hope that it goes as smoothly as possible! He should have very well seen that you were ensuring there was no physicald damage to his car!
Did you see him in his truck prior to your inspection?
4 people like this
@yukimori (10143)
• United States
23 Mar 16
Yeah, I saw him. It was kind of one of those "OMG DOG IN SUNGLASSES AWWWWW oh radio in truck's on because guy's sitting there with his seat reclined HOW CUTE IS THAT DOGGY?!" things, though. I didn't really register it aside from noting that the radio was on, and that was because he was there.
It does get pretty hot around here, but I think it's in the mid-sixties if that right now. I might have seen him around town, and if that's the case I believe that he might have a physical disability that causes him pain. I have fibromyalgia, and if I'm not right on top of managing my pain I can get pretty pissy, too, so I totally get that... but still, there's appropriate ways to respond to things. 
4 people like this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104632)
• United States
23 Mar 16
@yukimori Oh so he was the truck with the cute dog. I definitely agree there is a proper way of responding to things.
2 people like this
@yukimori (10143)
• United States
23 Mar 16
@ScribbledAdNauseum The truck with the cute dog was parked on the other side of him. He had a mid-sized truck, and the other was full-sized, so I could see the dog in the bed over the roof of the smaller truck.
1 person likes this
@Mike197602 (15487)
• United Kingdom
23 Mar 16
This is a difficult one and could get nasty but you've got some evidence from the photo you took.
Initially you hit his door which probably wound him up and made him behave in an angry manner by hitting your door.
Then you drove off after taking a picture but there was no form of discourse between you?
3 people like this
@yukimori (10143)
• United States
24 Mar 16
@Mike197602 Nah, I wouldn't see you as a know-nothing UK person. You've got your schema of the world based on what you know, and obviously that's going to be vastly different than mine.
Would you mind sharing what you would have done? I'll admit I'm not perfect, and I've been really working on resetting my "normal meter" thanks to my parents and the way they raised me. If there's something I can do better next time, I'd definitely like to.
3 people like this
@Mike197602 (15487)
• United Kingdom
23 Mar 16
@yukimori I was going to bring something up in my initial comment as I thought it may have been an issue.
I didn't because I didn't want to come across as a know nothing UK person.
I'd be very wary in this situation especially in the US as weapons are a legitimate concern...maybe not so much here and to be honest I'd have done things differently if the same situation happened here.
Hopefully it'll go no further.
1 person likes this
@Mike197602 (15487)
• United Kingdom
24 Mar 16
@yukimori I'd be happy to share what I would have done but in a UK context not a US one...if I was in the US i'd have acted differently.
In the UK if that'd happened I'd have knocked on the window of the truck I had hit with my door.
I'd have sorted it there and then and asked the person to look at where my door hit and see if there was damage..I would have taken pictures too but wouldn't have driven off.
If I'd thought there may be comeback I would have got the police there asap and they would have come in less than 8 minutes as I'd say to the 999 person there may be violence.
I wouldn't have had the weapons thing in my mind really which is where the cultural differences may come in.
In the US context you did what you thought was right...in the UK context you shouldn't have driven off and that would be looked at negatively by the police here.
3 people like this
@TiarasOceanView (70035)
• United States
23 Mar 16
That was a stupid reaction on his part.
Just goes to show one needs to think before acting.
Okay well hope it goes alright for you Yuki omg
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70035)
• United States
24 Mar 16
@yukimori good luck yuki. Stay safe.
1 person likes this
@yukimori (10143)
• United States
24 Mar 16
Totally out of proportion and pretty darn scary.
I think it'll end up fine... the officer seemed to be planning to go with the course least likely to lead to retaliatory charges. I'm not sure if he'll be contacting me or not about how things go. He's supposed to email me the report number at some point, and I'll probably get a copy for my records. I suppose I might find out if it's in there.
I think it'll end up fine... the officer seemed to be planning to go with the course least likely to lead to retaliatory charges. I'm not sure if he'll be contacting me or not about how things go. He's supposed to email me the report number at some point, and I'll probably get a copy for my records. I suppose I might find out if it's in there.2 people like this
@yukimori (10143)
• United States
24 Mar 16
The ramen was really good, and the bowls we got were enormous. I couldn't even finish more than half of mine. They're still ironing out the kinks in the service, since they've only been open for six days, but it seems like a decent enough place.
2 people like this
@Drosophila (16573)
• Ireland
24 Mar 16
@yukimori mmm that's what I miss, a good ramen place, where I live there is none. :(
1 person likes this
@yukimori (10143)
• United States
24 Mar 16
I'm not even that concerned about the compensation, to be honest. It's just cosmetic damage to a car that already has plenty of major cosmetic damage thanks to an encounter with a deer.
It was more the fact that he went straight to a violent response than anything. That's not normal, and at least if some other incident happens in the future they'll have this report on his record. Sheesh... all he would've had to do was ask for my insurance information.
2 people like this
@purplealabaster (22094)
• United States
24 Mar 16
You probably handled it better than I would have done. I would have said something to him about hitting my car, taken pictures of the damage, and called the cops. Here, if you do not wait for the cops to arrive and file a report, then it can reflect badly on you, and they might end up not believing your story.
1 person likes this
@much2say (53942)
• Los Angeles, California
6 Apr 16
Well you did it by accident and luckily there was no damage . . . but the other guy seemed to have done it out of anger and did it on purpose! So there were no exchange of words? Out here, no one would be silent about that one . Yah, he probably made some assumptions there - still he shouldn't have done it.
So there were no exchange of words? Out here, no one would be silent about that one . Yah, he probably made some assumptions there - still he shouldn't have done it.1 person likes this
@infatuatedbby (94921)
• United States
26 Mar 16
That was very rude of that man to flew open his door at you. You checked.. you didn't see him inside? I have had rude experiences with people dinging my door! Sometimes if the spot is tight - my boyfriend will wait in the car because I will be very quick. Most times there are people who just ram the door thinking you're not in the car. It has happened a few times and my boyfriend opens the door or rolls down the window stares at them. Sometimes they don't say anything and he goes did you not know what you just did? And then they're quick to say sorry.
And once - I went to my local VONS. I was ready to pop out of the car and go in but I received an important call from my dad. And thankfully I did .. I sat in the car and spoke to him. As I was talking to him the cart pusher RAMMED the cart into my car and kept going. I hung up the phone and ran after the guy. He made a super long dent on my car.. I went to go after the guy and it turns out he had a disability. I went to the manager and they apologized told me to get a quote. I went to the dent/fixer place and they buffed my paint, cleaned the scratch and it was barely noticeable afterwards (now the car is sold) but my car was brand new and it was only like 1-2 yrs into it.. But Vons paid the bill which was like $200.. I understand he is disabled and has a job (still does work there) but that isn't right .. or he'll need supervision because if I had not been in the car... I would have to shell out $200 to fix it which I wouldn't but I would not want those scratches/marks either.
... AND, lastly a few months ago went to the beach and some lady hit and ran on my boyfriends car. We saw the car but we didn't wait for them to reverse/leave. Once we got back we regret not waiting because they were the ones who hit his car!
PS SORRY LONG RANT Lol. Have a wonderful weekend. I hope everything gets resolved in your favor!
I hope everything gets resolved in your favor!
@DaddyEvil (137142)
• United States
26 Apr 16
Hmmm... that was a strange response on his part, Yuki... I wonder why he didn't just talk to you about what happened and check for any damage, himself? (That's what I would have done in his place.)
I do hope everything works out for you over this, hon!
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
24 Mar 16
i used to do my best to park far 'way from folks fer this very reason :( i've had my doors dinged by folks, with me sittin' in the truck 'n they pay no mind to their infraction. whilst i agree that they run jest fine regardless, if'n the paint's missin' 'n not tended to ('t the very least a clear coat), the paint'll start peelin'n will turn to rust.
1 person likes this
@lilnana1111 (2305)
• United States
11 Apr 16
I'm surprised they took a report, cause it was on private property? I hope he gets what he deserves.
@Morleyhunt (21746)
• Canada
24 Mar 16
I try to be very careful when opening my car doors. Unfortunately my father just throws his door with no thought to the consequences.
1 person likes this
@jrramos (184)
• Loule, Portugal
24 Mar 16
Só resuming what was suposed to be a nice day turn out to be not só good. That is why these days I'm not doing só much plans, I try to go with the flow. 
