| Author | Message | ||
     Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 5002 Registered: 5-2001 |
Monday morning started out with a bang at our house. At approximately 2:20 AM yesterday, a car hit the stop sign across the street from out house, drove onto our property, drove through a six foot tall speciman privit, over a 4 foot high yew hedge and several rose bushes, over a low cement wall which may once have held fence posts separating our property from out next door neighbors, hit both of our neighbor's cars which had been parked in their driveway, backed up, turned around, drove over our foundation planing at the front of the house, sideswiped the front of the house causing damage to the masonry and totaling most of the plants, took out the outlet pipe for the sump pump, took down the leader at that corner of the house, sheared off the water faucet for the water supply to the garden, ran across the lawn, took out two more shrubs at the corner of our lawn, demolished the street sign at the corner, drove on to our neighbor's property across the street and kept going. There is also interior damage to the corner wall of the house, requiring repainting, remolding, and perhaps some work on one of the window frames. It took a day and a half to get the insurance adjuster out. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Neither could the nice lady at the police department record room who gave us two copies of the police report. I'm not looking forward to dealing with the clean-up crew, plumber, roofer, landscaper, mason, painter and any other trades people we may need to call in before things are restored to near normal again. What a way to spend my one week's vacation! I'll post a few pictures if I can figure out how. | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 5626 Registered: 1-2003  |
Hard to believe the driver can look himself in the mirror after doing that. Good luck, Joan! | ||
| Earlster Supporter Username: Earlster Post Number: 995 Registered: 8-2003  |
Tom, which of the two himselfs in the mirror? Sounds to me like a seriously drunk driver. Joan good luck. | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 5004 Registered: 5-2001 |
Thanks Tom and Earlster. We were able to get the plumber out to take a look late this afternoon so the most serious of the damage should be repaired shortly. If anyone can recommend a good mason to repair the brick work, please post the information here or send me a PL. | ||
| shh Citizen Username: Shh Post Number: 2217 Registered: 5-2001 |
Joan, how frightening! Was the driver caught or did he drive off? Good luck with the repairs. | ||
| Pizzaz Citizen Username: Pizzaz Post Number: 1536 Registered: 11-2001  |
You say at appoximately 2:30am, did this awaken you at the time? That might have been rather frightening if it had. I wish you good luck and a speedy restitution. How's the ferocious cat on your lap holding out with all the commotion? BTW: Congrats on your number of posts exceeding 5K. I know, you've only just begun.  | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 5014 Registered: 5-2001 |
shh: If the driver was caught, no one has told us. It was very scary and still is very sad but it could have been so much worse. Hopefully, no one was hurt. Pizzaz: Yes. We were awakened by a loud booming sound. It wasn't until the police arrived that we began to see the full extent of the damage. Even more was evident the following morning when my son took pictures for us to show the insurance company. The insurance adjuster told us that it would be some time before we could determine the full extent of the damage. The cat on my lap is taking this very calmly. He likes having us around the house in the daytime and he was the only one in the family who slept through that entire night. 5,000 posts? Moi? I never even noticed. Thank you both for the kind wishes. | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 5042 Registered: 5-2001 |
The owner of the car which struck our house and plantings and the neighbor's cars has been identified and the information passed on to our insurance company thanks to the co-incidence of our next door neighbor (who suffered the car damage) and the vehicle which struck our property being in the same auto repair shop at the same time. Thanks too to the MPD for following up so promptly. | ||
| eliz Supporter Username: Eliz Post Number: 1003 Registered: 5-2001 |
Excellent - I hope the MPD has made an arrest. | ||
| Pizzaz Citizen Username: Pizzaz Post Number: 1552 Registered: 11-2001 |
This is turning into an interesting investigation story. If you should hear more details, please let us know. Tell me, how does another car in the same auto shop provide you evidence that this was the car? | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 5045 Registered: 5-2001 |
The damage done to the suspect car was suspiciously greater than would have been expected had the suspect car been damaged in the manner told to the auto body shop personnel when the suspect vehicle was brought in. Two pieces had broken off the car which hit our house and our neighbor's cars. One was found by police in our yard when they came out to investigate. The other was found by my neighbor when my neighbor was clearing snow from the driveway where his two cars had been parked. Both pieces fit the suspect car perfectly. The color of the paint which rubbed off on the limestone apron of our window matched the color of the car. Not exactly CSI material but not bad detective work either. | ||
| mem Citizen Username: Mem Post Number: 4681 Registered: 5-2001  |
Joan, What a scary event - thank god you're OK. Any details about this crazy driver? Was he/she DWI? | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 5053 Registered: 5-2001 |
Mem: Looking at the locations and extent of the damage, which covered a pretty broad area, I can't imagine the driver being in full control when all this happened. Whether the driver was drunk, drugged, ill, scared, or just plain inexperienced I don't know and I doubt such information will come out in the amended police report we are getting early next week. The insurance adjuster kept telling us how lucky we were to have such a sturdy house. With most houses, the vehicle would have ended up in our living room! What really makes me sad is the damage to the bricks at the corner of the house. I doubt we will ever be able to find replacement bricks to match them and the one mason we were able to locate thus far said the house could suffer even more damage to the facade if we tried to remove and replace the damaged brick work. | ||
| mem Citizen Username: Mem Post Number: 4684 Registered: 5-2001 |
Joan, I'm so sorry...best of luck. | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 5057 Registered: 5-2001 |
Thanks, Mem | ||
| LibraryLady(ncjanow) Supporter Username: Librarylady Post Number: 2247 Registered: 5-2001  |
Wow, Joan..what a story. Just be thankful, I suppose, that no one was injured. How have you found the time to post on other threads? I would be beside myself. This too shall pass. Wishing you the best. | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 5058 Registered: 5-2001 |
Thanks, Library Lady. We have been on scheduled vacation this week. How's that for perfect timing?  Posting helped fill the time while waiting for adjusters, contractors and the like besides how could I ignore Dave and Jamie's plight? Tomorrow it is back to work and hopefully the start of a return to normalcy. I just wish it would stop snowing for a while so we can start getting the needed repairs made. | ||
| mem Citizen Username: Mem Post Number: 4689 Registered: 5-2001 |
Joan, We could get up to 14 inches, and then snow showers for the rest of the week. | ||
| Just The Aunt Supporter Username: Auntof13 Post Number: 603 Registered: 1-2004  |
Joan I just had a chance to read this thread. I'm so sorry to hear how much damage was done to your home. I hope The mason can get your house back to the way it was. | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 5063 Registered: 5-2001 |
Just The Aunt: We haven't found a mason who can do the job yet but our regular roofer finally returned our call. He does some house restoration work and he thinks he may know a mason who can do the work. Since he was been doing our roof work for over twenty years, he is familiar with our brick work so I am hopeful we may be able to get the facade repaired. |
