August 9th, 2010, around 4am...

A recent car accident, recent as in tonight, about 2 hours ago, reminded my of another accident happend in the same spot, over a year ago, August 9th, 2010, at around 4:00 am. This current accident was simply a pizza delivery guy sliding into a parked car.

Tame.


Via Twitter:
Well, Was just woken up to the sound of crunching metal a few moments ago, Seems there was a high speed chase going by my house...
1 of the pursuers, Sheriff's car I think slammed into a parked minivan sending it across a road and the sheriff facing the other way...

Sheriff seemed ok as he was walking around shortly after, lots of cop cars. What the hell was that about? & what a thing to get woken up to!

As it turned out, it was a cross-state high pursuit chase, the car that had caused the accident was actually a state patrol car, not sheriff. Apparently they were after a stolen car, & supposedly they never caught them, at least not then. There was only a little blurb in the news paper, (so small I cannot find it now), about how it was a high speed pursuit that started in Wisconsin & made it all the way over to Minnesota (by where I live), that a state trooper scraped a parked car, they had been after the stolen car, didn't catch them, & so on.

So to fully describe it, as the memory is still very vivid in my mind well over a year later, & my half asleep mind could not process it yet. It was August, warm out, so I was sleeping with the windows open, shades up, it was nice, peaceful... till that early morning that is.

You know that feeling when you are asleep, & you sorta know you have to pee, but you're really not fully aware of it because you are asleep? That subconscious awareness, lurking between dreams, that was pretty much how this started. I could hear sirens blaring, yet it wasn't registering with me, it was distant, not in just literally, but in thought. However, it was getting louder, like a crescendo slowly pulling me awake, this music building like a dramatic moment in an action movie, & just when it was about to wake me, BOOM, the bomb exploded. In this case, a crash, tires screeching, crunching metal, accented by the sirens. I bolt upright in my bed, confused, but instictavly look out the window just in time to see a neighbor's minivan back up onto the side walk & into the railing, mind you it was parked on the other side of the street. The state trooper had hit one car, knocking the bumper off, then into the van, knocking it to the other side, the trooper was now about 100 feet away in the intersection facing the way he came, smoke coming from the engine, filling the cabin of his car. Other pursuers made there way around him & continued the chase,  while a couple others stayed behind. A moment later the trooper was walking around looking okay from what I could see by the street lamp's light. He was inspecting the damage with other law enforcers when more sirens started blaring, this time the fire department, a small fleet of them came to scene. Then the owner was out in pajamas to see that his van was not where he left it.

Around this time, though I wanted to watch more from my window, this was a work day, & I still had a few hours to go, so I closed the windows, closed the shades, went back to bed, & somehow managed to fall asleep again despite the startling way I was woken up, however, I was understandably a bit tired the next day.

It was such a vivid experience, to be jolted awake by such chaos, it burned that memory deep into my brain. I still feel bad for the pizza delivery guy, the weather was shitty, icy in spots, I think the parked car was on the wrong side of the street, but at least it looked like both cars could drive away. I can't say that about this other accident, these cars were totaled in every sense of the word, the neighbor got a new van out of it & needless to say I never see them park it on that street anymore.