Well, here's where the snarky rubber meets the road, literally.
At 8:30am, we were disturbed by a loud BANG! right outside. We live on a fairly busy corner with stop signs and there is always a moron running them.
However, this morning, one of those morons ran up our front lawn onto our front walkway...and through my beautiful daylilies. And left another car smashed to smithereens in the street...
First time in almost 8 years living here.
Well, I opened my window and said is anyone hurt? All I got back was Spanish. We called the police and reported the accident and then I yelled to the man tromping around my front lawn...get your car OFF my lawn!
Kelsey was in toddler heaven because we had police cars, an ambulance AND 2 fire trucks all parked in front of our house for well over an hour. It seems the driver parked on our lawn had to be removed with the jaws of life and taken away by ambulance. She kept running to the window saying "I'll help you!" So sweet and lovely and naive.
Okay, here's the snark...these people (NOT the professionals, they were wonderful, quick acting and caused little damage)tromped all over our lawn for over 2 hours. Didn't apologize once for ruining our plants, outdoor lighting, front sidewalk was crakced or our morning. Of course no one said boo to us, the INNOCENT people in this....clearly for someone to have jumped the curb and gotten halfup our lawn they have had to be going FAST! The other car was absolutely totaled.
I went out to speak to the police officer directing traffic and asked when they'd be moving the car off my lawn...he was short with me. Then I asked when the police report would be ready and he said Tuesday. Then I asked if these people had insurance and he said he couldn't tell me...which of course meant no.
Then, I went back into my house, fuming. Guess who has zero recourse for any claims? Us...the INNOCENT victims in this! Plus, I couldn't EVEN make these people tramping around my front lawn (by that time, the man had called in re-inforcements and they were ALL hanging out in my yard!) stand on the sidewalk because no one spoke English!
I spend quite a bit of time in my gardens in the spring, and all my beds need a good spruce-up. Normally, I'm out early in the am in the spring, so I guess I'm lucky that I'm still not feeling well AND it was cold out this morning and I didn't feel like gardening today..that stupid woman would have mowed me down too.
Snarky me is going down to the police station on Wed to read the accident report. When I find out what I think I'm going to find out, I'm going to make a few phone calls to ensure that MY rights don't get trampled again...
Hear me, rotten drivers of the world...if you are going to wreck MY property on any given Sunday morning...make sure you are:
1) legally in this country
2) insured to the max
3) speak enough English to apologize for ruining our front lawn.
4) Get the hell off when asked nicely.
Because when the government lets the illegal unisured off the hook, tax payers like me pay the price in higher taxes, more expensive insurance, higher medical bills....this is a big problem in my part of NJ....and today the problem literally almost came through my front door to say "howdy, thanks for letting us trample all over your lives!"
Nope, not gonna happen....
Edited to add....by the way, I'm not a heartless biatch. The first questions out of my mouth was "anyone hurt?" and we checked it out...the woman was taken away by ambulance because she was hysterically crying...not because she was hurt. And the way her SUV was hit, she wasn't hurt by the car, she was shaken up by the ride she took up my front lawn. Plus, she knows she's in trouble because when you have an accident with no insurance in NJ...well, it's not good. If someone had been hurt, this post wouldn't have not been written....
13 comments:
Sorry about that far less-than-perfect Sunday but glad no one was seriously hurt.
All I can say is "Have a better Monday" :-)
Vicky
I would have a fit also - I spend a lot of time on my plants and if they got ran over ---- agh!
Gosh, you were lucky not to be out there and lucky your house didn't get hit!
sorry to read you had bad day. ashley would sing you the song . please do not have bad taste for police, firemen and emts. as a firemens wife, policemen daughter and a brother who is an emt. sorry you had bad experience with them. they were probaly just doing their job and worrying about their patient, especailly if they had to use the jaws of life which is serious. it aslo hard for them communate with people who d o not speak english . remember they have protect the vitiam in the car and rights too. but on the other hand after all was done the police should of came to your guys too to see how your guys were! i know my dad would of, jay and my borther too. have better weeknd!
sorry i missed understood, i have agree nj needs to change the laws and actually the us needs to something to to about the immgrations laws too. sorry again.
Quick question what does immigration status have to do with this??
Being uninsured and driving recklessly sound like they are the crimes that were committed here.
Just because you are here legally doesn't mean that you have insurance and just because they speak Spanish doesn't mean they are illegal (also doesn't mean that they aren't).
I might have a soft spot for immigrants(as I am sure you do too). I spent a year teaching English to a woman from Cuba. Both she and her husband were MDs. She stayed home with their two kids and her husband worked in a chicken factory. She would cry because it was so hard to learn English, but she worked at it and learned. They left all of their friends and family to come to the US and it was a struggle. It takes a lot of courage to leave everything and move to a country where you don't speak the language and it isn't easy.
I think that you always have the option of filing a lawsuit. I am assuming that the cars were registered (had plates) so there is probably some owner information in the system.
They had to use the jaws of life and there were no injuries??? What kind of car is that. Sounds like a tank! Maybe I should get that as my next car!
I can't imagine how scary it is to have something like that happen so close to the place where you feel the safest. That isn't fair, but I am really glad you are all safe an sound.
Susan,
Thank you for your concern, but I promise you there were no injuries to the passengers sitting on my front lawn. The jaws of life were used because the driver side door was hit in such a way that they couldn't open the door. That happened to my jetta once when a deer hit my car (notice I said deer hit my car, not my car hit a deer...we were stopped at the time)
As for immigrants, I am passionate about the rights of people who work hard to get to our country legally, like my inlaws and my father (and the whole Italian side of my family) and my daughter.
I have issues with illegal immigrants. I presume you don't live in my town or NJ, so you have no idea of the challenges we face.
I also have a pretty good idea that the people on my front lawn were not on the up and up because they didn't call the police themselves...we had to do it. From the inflections that the police officer used and the gestures he made, I am making an educated guess...that I beleive the police report will bear out.
Why do I care about this? Because I have damage to my property that I probably will not recover because of the uninsured status. If the people are illegals, I won't be able to file suits/garnish wages because most in NJ work at jobs where they are paid cash.
Can I also tell you this is the 3rd time in 6 months that I have heard of someone come crashing through a front yard, damaging property (in the other 2 cases the cars hit fences and front porches!) Guess what? The other 2 occurances happened in the afternoon while someone was driving drunk...and yes, each case was an illegal immigrant. (I checked into this)
I'm not being mean or petty...but I am sick and tired of someone trying to damage my property and trying to get away with it! (See my post 1 year ago!)
JoAnn:
Your presumption is incorrect. I live in Hudson County, NJ in an area that is very diverse. I know there are a number of immigrants and I am sure there are many who may not currently be legal (might have come legally but not currently legal). I chose to live where I do and I have to take the good with the bad or make changes.
I try not to assume that people do things that hurt me intentionally. In then end I don't think it matters. Either way I end up hurt. It doesn't cost me anything to believe that people are basically good, imperfect but basically good. I also know that as much as people hurt me I have hurt others without meaning to. I hope that they forgive me. I let karma take care of the ones that are really mean.
Bad things happen to good people. Good people make bad choices. A lot of the time there isn't much you can do to prevent or control other people. All we can do is choose how we respond to situations and how we treat others.
If things are really bad where you are I hope that you can make some changes. I hope that things work out and your get the funds to make the repairs. I also hope that there are lots of happy and amazing moments before the next event and that you and your family stay safe and happy!
--S
Great comments Susan!
Joann, perhaps you could have damages covered through homeowner's insurance?
Hi Susan,
My Mom and Dad are originally from Hoboken and I worked in JC for years so I know a bit about Hudson county. You are right, it is a very diverse county and I apologize for my presumptions.
FYI, due to a job layoff last summer and subsequent new job with great opportunities but lower pay plus the situation in the housing market, we are parked in Somerset County for the time being. So as much as I would love to leave... I can't in the forseeable future.
Last year (also in April) my house was robbed by a career criminal (out of jail for 14 days, he robbed 13 residences in my town until the police caught him due to my robbery) he didn't steal a lot due to my alarm system, but he did enough damage to my doors to cost us the entire $1000 deductable.
Repairing concrete sidewalks is expensive and right now I'm not really in the mood to be paying out of pocket for fixing this. Again, the deductible is $1000.
You can imagine my mood at looking again at the expense of paying for damages to my home that were done by others (although this time it wasn't purposely...I do realize that this was an accident...but surely I get to vent about this, right?)
I do appreciate your good thoughts and wishes. I wish I felt as positive as you do. I have worked in non profits for about 4 years out of the 12 of my marketing career and sometimes I see sides of humanity that makes me sick.
To end this on a positive note, I do get to see things that make my soul sing as well. Currently I work in Newark and to see and talk to the high school students is an amazing and humbling opportunity.
My family wasn't extremely wealthy, but I was raised in privledge compared to the kids I work with and to see them rise above the murders, gang attacks, and just plain trash in Newark truly makes me feel able to come to work every day...it's not an easy task, I promise you.
So, thank you all for your good wishes and happy thoughts, they are appreciated...I just needed to vent about the 2nd time in one year that I had things happen to us out of our control.
Be careful about fixing the sidewalk. I think there are some liablity issues.
I don't know anything, but you might want to check with somebody who knows. My sister had an issue at her old house. If she fixed the sidewalk (she didnt)then she assued the responsiblity going forward. But technically I think it was a city responsiblity).
If you can get the city to do it that might be better and you will have a police report.
Good luck!
I would be upset. I understand your frustration!!!! ugh! I would not be a happy person at all....
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