Q:I wish I could think of something to ask.... tell me a good story?

loveandsanity

I’ve told this story on Tumblr before, but not in quite some time.

Fun Times Getting Hit By a Car

I have a deep-seated distaste for the Chrysler 300M. For good reason.

When I was in third year of undergrad, I was taking an afternoon exam at St. George and Bloor. After I finished, I started walking to a bar at St. George and College (a few blocks away) to meet some friends to celebrate.

Near the university’s main library, there is a medium-sized side street that is often used by commuters working at the university or the nearby provincial government buildings to get to a major thoroughfare.

They often gridlock crossing St. George Street. This day was exacerbated by ongoing construction around the library and a minor police presence.

As the light turned amber for westbound traffic (I was going southbound on the west side of the street), three cars remained in the intersection. By the time the light became red, two had made it through. A third driver in a 300M was stuck, gridlocking.

I crossed in front of him. I am a very self-righteous pedestrian. The guy laid on his horn at me. So, naturally, I did the only city-bred twenty-something thing I could think of. I stopped in front of him, turned to face his car, stuck up my middle finger and yelled “That’s what you get for gridlocking”.

Then he hit the gas.

He didn’t have enough room to build up much speed, maybe 15 km/h or so, but it was enough to knock me clear off my feet and onto the hood of his car.

Idiot.

With the repairs going on, there were no less than 3 police squad cars and at least 1 cop on foot in the intersection. They were pulled up behind him with sirens blaring before I even rolled off the car.

They got him to pull his car onto the sidewalk, pulled him out of the vehicle, read him his rights and cuffed him then and there.

—-

Several weeks later, I got a call from the detective in charge of the investigation. What he told me basically boiled down to this:

The guy was in the intersection illegally. There are 5 eyewitnesses, all of them police officers. From their statements, it cannot be argued that this guy did not see me. He was stopped in front of me for several seconds. Being stopped in front of pedestrians, there is no legal reason for him to have hit the gas.

On those grounds, they decided NOT to charge him under the Highway Traffic Act, but instead with the crime of assault with a deadly weapon (well, assault with a weapon is what it is called here).

Jerk.

A year or so later, he finally went to court. Or made a plea bargain. Not sure what it was. He plead down a whole bunch, had his license revoked for something like 5 years and served some jail time (I’m not exactly sure how much, but it was in the order of weeks).

So, naturally, the lesson I’ve taken from this is to be wary around Chrysler 300Ms. I am still a self-righteous pedestrian. Perhaps, I got the wrong message.

42 Notes/ Hide

  1. boatsandpirates said: Best story I’ve read all day.
  2. rossrants said: I’d have done the same. If you block and intersection you have no brain function, he clearly proved this fact.
  3. slobaum said: Dude… holy SHIT. What a jerk!
  4. loveandsanity said: WOAH! Crazy! Thanks for sharing. What a Jerk!
  5. sorrycanada said: oh my gosh. that’s intense.
  6. cutlerish posted this