Uhh...yeah. Deliberate. I also suspect Disney money in the Progressive Flo.
It also didn't help matters that they managed to slip me a ragweed mickey just prior to 'the accident'.
I looked right. It was clear. I looked left. Waited for a car to pass.
As it passed, I started to accelerate for a left turn and turned my head at the very same time, and his truck was midpoint in front of my eyes cutting across my front left fender, making his sharp left turn at the driveway instead of from the traffic center lane for a left turn. I hit the brakes and came within an inch of stopping, but he turned in sharp right there, and I believe he actually turned in to my bumper.
The paint is rubbed on the front, the main contact point at the 45 degree corner with a wide rub, and scratches on the side fender. He shouted, "Watch where you're going. Can't you see?". And within a second after the very mild impact, he backed up and pulled into the driveway, running over my bumper and causing the main dent over top of the one from the actual accident. He did not have to back up or drive around me to enter the driveway. It was the shopping center's main driveway, designed for tractor trailers. It is large, and the impact was on my side of the driveway.
He drove nearly 15 M.P.H. through the parking lot, over speed bumps, about 75 feet away from the accident. I thought for a moment that he was fleeing.
He then pulled in near the Chase Bank. I did a U-Turn and pulled in nearby.
He was sitting there behind the wheel smoking a cigarette and thinking.
I asked if he had insurance. He asked me. "Yes". He stepped out of his truck, mind you, how much higher a truck step is.
I was uninjured. He was walking around. He had a camera smartphone, but forgot to take a pic before driving 75 ft. away in a hurry from the main driveway where it occurred. I wrote down a description of his dent, at the time thinking it was my fault for pulling out, but I had stopped within the pullout zone (the parking lane near the curb). I had him sign it. At first he scribbled an unintelligible scrawl. I said I can't read it. You need to sign this again. So he did, this time legibly so.
He Then decided to take pictures of his damages. He reached for the pocket of his smartphone. It wasn't there. He reached for a second pocket. It wasn't there.
He fumbled around and then seemed to remember where he stuck it, but pulling it out, he looked ackward as if he was trying to look as if he had no trouble finding it after all.
I went home and reported to my insurance that same day. He didn't call.
I talked again the next day. By this time he had called my company from work, but filed no report. Two weeks later my agent informed me that he had acquired an attorney, claiming "back problems". I told her that he was walking around. She said that soft tissue injury can take several days to show up. I asked if he had sent her the cameraphone pics. She said that that was his private property. That he had not.
Later, my company determined it was my fault because my agent claims that I said "I didn't see him". I had repeatedly asked my agent why he didn't see me.
"My agents" insist that he had the right-of-way for pulling in from a street.
I pointed out that a center lane left turn and a driveway to left turn neither have the right-of-way in California; that both drivers are required to execute the turn only when it is safe. However, it is clear to me that he just tore up the street, slashing behind the traffic that I had to wait for, and probably never slowed down until the driveway (on my side). Yes, I had pulled out, but I stopped. My rear wheels were still on the driveway ramp after stopping.
I had pictures of my scratches, and my agent sent me the ones that the agent took of his dent (double-dent when he pulled in). I can tell from the pics what happened.
Now the game is to wait because his attorney is holding on to whatever medical bills that he decides to run up, plus whatever for "lost wages". My company is fighting that part... ...whatever. But they settled $800 for a $350 rear quarter panel, likely to appease the lawyer and bogus bills. Trust me. He creased around my standing bumper. Twice. I felt zero repercussion on impact. I wasn't moving.
And he rocked as he turned against my bumper and stopped, at about the force of a speed bump in a truck. His speedy drive through the parking lot afterwards was harsher.
And oh yeah. I went to the store the other night. He lives in the area near the store.
I didn't see him, but when I came out of the store, my right side corner lamp had been torn out by somebody. It was good before I went in to the store.
Somebody popped it with their hands.
The title 'A Scanner Darkly'
