neurotwitch

Cop/Car Situation Update

We got the car back today! Hurray! (the back story is here and here)

We got the call at 4:30, come and get it ... frantic scramble to get out the door and make it before 5:30, when they close for the day. We had 10 miles to get through before we could get to Traynor Auto Body which seems trivial to you, maybe. Unless you commute on I-95 in Fairfield County, CT -- then you know that going from Norwalk to Fairfield (the town of) at 4:30 in the afternoon could be anywhere from a 30- to 90-minute drive (remember, I said TEN MILES!!). We made it in 40 minutes (whew!)

We signed over our first-born to ransom the car. Well, we really just paid the deductible of $500. We got a look at the total bill for this cop-couldn't-be-bothered-with-it fender bender. $1,832.67. Yep. Nearly two grand because the lying incompentent driver Damon Grant drives with his head up his ass.

When we got outside, we looked around, oh my! Is that shiny, beautiful thing OUR CAR? We had it washed before we took it in, just to get the road salt or whatever crap they use on the roads around her off. But this, this--it looked like a $50 car wash, by hand. And they even cleaned the entire inside!! Including arranging things neatly in that little storage doodad between the seats. It looked better than it did on the day we drove it home from McMahon Ford! Already I'm thinking about the thank-you letter we're gonna send Traynor (109 Thorpe Street, Fairfield, CT 06430 203-254-2106) if I made it back home in one piece.

I was concerned about how well the steering could be fixed--I was bummed out because for all the Ford Focus's shortcomings (and there are many, many shortcomings), the handling has always been superb. But outside of a little tightness (which Stanley says will work out pretty fast), it's like nothing was broken! I'm so pleased.

Now all that remains is to call the insurance company again next week (so far, we're pretty pleased with Travelers) and get our deductible back from the incompetent driver Grant's insurance policy. And I hope his rates go through the ceiling, or he gets dropped, or that his repairs cost a lot of money and he has a $2,000 deductible ... if he hadn't lied, I wouldn't be inviting the wrath of the gods to descend upon his miserable lying head.

THE NORWALK POLICE DEPARTMENT CALLED the other day to let me know about the progress of their investigation into my complaint that the cop who handled the accident was rude and did not do his job. I spoke with the Puzzled Lieutenant (I still don't know his name--he told me, but it just won't stick in my weak brain until I see it in writing). The PL told me the investigation is complete, that they determined that the lying incompetent driver asswipe was the one completely at fault as he was making an illegal pass on the right and that they will be issuing him a violation notice (what that means, I have no idea). He said he'd let me know when the accident report is ready for me (and my insurance company) to pick up.

About the complaint of rudeness, Officer Page admitted he said stuff he shouldn't have said and, PL said, has been chewed out (undergone "training" was more how he put it) about how to handle civilians ( for "civilians" read "pain-in-the-ass 40-something women who pay taxes, vote, and are good citizens and sure as hell can cause you a world of trouble") and how to investigate an accident, and what are my expectations, blah blah blah. I told the PL that I expected an apology, in writing in a letter than Officer Page has to type up himself (none of this boilerplate stuff they can spit out of the computer) plus I wanted to make sure the incompetent asswipe driver is told he did something wrong (mainly so the idiot doesn't plow into anyone else, or kill a kid, because he's too stupid to pay attention).

I figure a few more days, and I'll have both the apology and the accident report showing that the accident was in no way my fault. And I believed the Lieutenant when he said Officer Page's rudeness was an aberration--that it's not permissable behavior by any cop, mainly because this is the first time a cop had ever been rude to me or to anyone I know. When I get both, I'll write to the mayor again to tell him all's well in Blueland. (Although I never heard anything from the mayor and I should have--but that's another bone to pick once this one is cleaned off). If I actually do get the apology from Page, I think I'll scan it and post it here.

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