08-27-2011, 02:58 PM
So we were taking a repaired computer back to a friend Sunday last. Waiting for oncoming traffic to clear the onramp to the I210 in my wife's Chrysler 300 SRT-8 I glanced in the mirror and saw a white truck bearing down on us at an unreasonable speed. I slcootched ahead to make room but he kept coming. Inevitably he hit us hard enough to push the sturdy SRT into the divider. Seeing that my wife was unhurt, I proceeded to inquire of the truck driver his objectives.
He was staring straight ahead and would not respond at all to my request for insurance.drivers licence or anything. I considered asking in Spanish, but I really only speak enough Spanish to start a fight in a bar. At this point the driver started backing up. I sensed things were going south and had my wife call the police. Thr truck driver turned finally and offered me 150. That justmade it relly clear where his head was. I fumbled my phone out to take a photo of his license plate but just as I got to the back of the truck the guy bolted down the onramp to thr freeway.
Well, here is the decision process: We have a full tank of gas, a driveable SRT8 , a snootfull of adrenaline, and nothing much better to do.
While I was running back to the car I could hear my wife yelling at the police dispatcher "he's running! he's running!"
The hands free uConnect on the SRT8 picks up the engine pretty well (buwwaaaaAAAA!). Apparently as we blasted down the ramp I said outloud "This is going to be fun". The dispatcher mildly suggested that we stay safe and get the license number. We passed a Toyota on the onramp so fast we sucked his windshield out. We reported the license number after about a mile when we got right on his bumper. The guy tried to evade, passing on the right shoulder and dodging around,but it was a one sided contest made worse by moderate traffic. After about 12 miles our buddy bailed to surface streets which made it even more one sided. At last the police showed in our mirrors and we peeled off when the dispatcher reported a positive id. As we broke off we saw the truck driver running from two police cars with more joining in.
No sooner thanwe had stopped and drained the excess adrenaline out of the car seats than a Honda pulled up and a woman hopped out asking if we were the ones hit back at Citrus. "My father and saw the whole thing and even gave him directions,then he crossed three lanes of traffic to crash into you!" She was absolutly vibrating and gave us all thr info for the police.
After a bit we got a call from the dispatcher asking us to go to the scene where they finally stopped the guy, maybe 2 miles away.
When we turned onto the side street where he stopped I was reminded of the scene from Terminator2: How many cops are out there? Umm, looks like all of them.
Our friend was sitting on the curb looking sad. An officer took our statement then asked if there was anything else. I offered our witnesses information which my wife had written on a bit of scrap paper. The officer looked at us with a strange expression and asked us how we got the information. We related the story about th Honda and the vibrating lady. He replied. "You may find this hard to believe, but your witness is my father and the vibrating lady is my sister. We are getting together for his anniversary dinner when I get off shift in 5 minutes".
Anyway, last we heard the guy is still in jail. Later we learned that a week before a hit and run driver haescaped the same officer. This seems to explain the extraordinary enthusiasm we enjoyed.
We are apparently famous at the insurance company and as soon as they stop laughing the SRT8 will be almost as good as new.
You just cant make this stuff up.
He was staring straight ahead and would not respond at all to my request for insurance.drivers licence or anything. I considered asking in Spanish, but I really only speak enough Spanish to start a fight in a bar. At this point the driver started backing up. I sensed things were going south and had my wife call the police. Thr truck driver turned finally and offered me 150. That justmade it relly clear where his head was. I fumbled my phone out to take a photo of his license plate but just as I got to the back of the truck the guy bolted down the onramp to thr freeway.
Well, here is the decision process: We have a full tank of gas, a driveable SRT8 , a snootfull of adrenaline, and nothing much better to do.
While I was running back to the car I could hear my wife yelling at the police dispatcher "he's running! he's running!"
The hands free uConnect on the SRT8 picks up the engine pretty well (buwwaaaaAAAA!). Apparently as we blasted down the ramp I said outloud "This is going to be fun". The dispatcher mildly suggested that we stay safe and get the license number. We passed a Toyota on the onramp so fast we sucked his windshield out. We reported the license number after about a mile when we got right on his bumper. The guy tried to evade, passing on the right shoulder and dodging around,but it was a one sided contest made worse by moderate traffic. After about 12 miles our buddy bailed to surface streets which made it even more one sided. At last the police showed in our mirrors and we peeled off when the dispatcher reported a positive id. As we broke off we saw the truck driver running from two police cars with more joining in.
No sooner thanwe had stopped and drained the excess adrenaline out of the car seats than a Honda pulled up and a woman hopped out asking if we were the ones hit back at Citrus. "My father and saw the whole thing and even gave him directions,then he crossed three lanes of traffic to crash into you!" She was absolutly vibrating and gave us all thr info for the police.
After a bit we got a call from the dispatcher asking us to go to the scene where they finally stopped the guy, maybe 2 miles away.
When we turned onto the side street where he stopped I was reminded of the scene from Terminator2: How many cops are out there? Umm, looks like all of them.
Our friend was sitting on the curb looking sad. An officer took our statement then asked if there was anything else. I offered our witnesses information which my wife had written on a bit of scrap paper. The officer looked at us with a strange expression and asked us how we got the information. We related the story about th Honda and the vibrating lady. He replied. "You may find this hard to believe, but your witness is my father and the vibrating lady is my sister. We are getting together for his anniversary dinner when I get off shift in 5 minutes".
Anyway, last we heard the guy is still in jail. Later we learned that a week before a hit and run driver haescaped the same officer. This seems to explain the extraordinary enthusiasm we enjoyed.
We are apparently famous at the insurance company and as soon as they stop laughing the SRT8 will be almost as good as new.
You just cant make this stuff up.