Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Death of a Mailbox

Just as I was having difficulty coming up with a good post, there was an accident last night.

Barry was in his office, and I was in the living room. Sound familiar? We both heard a HUGE thud.

I called from the couch, "Barry, are you okay?"

He replied, "I thought that was you."

Notice I did not say either of us ran immediately to check on the other. I actually thought something had fallen off a shelf in the garage, so our search began there.

Then we stepped outside. Our mailbox was lying on its side about four feet from its original spot. Intact as far as we can tell.


Car parts were distributed all over the flowerbed.




Car tracks were in our flowerbed and our neighbors yard.

Barry and Trey (our neighbor) followed the tracks in the street and found the hit and run driver a few blocks away.

I called the police.

Since this is not a major crime, like putting your registration stickers on the wrong automobiles, no ticket was issued. According to the police, if someone is in their house when the police get there, they can't do anything. (surely I missed something in that statement from the policeman)

My nephew, Joe, said this is good to know if you want to commit a crime. Note to Joe: Don't admit to the crime, leave no evidence, and you may be correct in the assumption that you will get away with it.

This young man did fess up. Barry said he seemed a little strange, but forthcoming with all his information. Now that we have seen the crash in the daylight, we fear he may have hit his head and maybe that is why he seemed strange or maybe not.

We did not initially think it was car wreck because there was no screeching of tires. It appears, he was going too fast, hit the mailbox full speed, mailbox flew head over end, and THUD, hit the ground.


Of course, Barry made a comment at the end of the evening last night that made me laugh. He said, "The mail carrier is going to have to deliver the mail in a go-cart."

Tonight, Barry spoke with the teen's mother. She knew nothing about this being a hit and run. She knew nothing about where the accident took place. She knew nothing. Barry told her she should have the young man checked by a doctor if he hit his head, because it had to be quite a blow. There were other things that he wanted to tell her, but he bit his tongue. How could a mother see this kind of damage on a truck and not ask questions?



This is where blogging gets hard. I don't feel it is the place of this blog to give unsolicited advice. It may creep in at times. However, if you would like to comment on how you would handle this as a parent, feel free. If you want my opinion, Barry's opinion, or you are a child of mine, and want to guess our opinion, be our guest.

11 comments:

  1. This could only happen to you and Barry!! As far as how I would handle this as a parent, I think I would definitely look into some possible drug or alcohol abuse where that teen is involved! Sounds a little suspect to me...she may be in denial!
    Hope you got your mailbox fixed!

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  2. Are they going to fix your mailbox? Was the teen still sitting in the truck when Barry found him? Hopefully the mother was just embarrassed when she was speaking to Barry and afterward took matters in hand to deal with the teen. I know, probably wishful thinking. Danbury "corner" is know to have several mailboxes jump off their bases!

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  3. Handling this as you and Dad might:
    My life would be over. Any drug or alcohol abuse would be uncovered. I would be on my way to rehab this morning, surely - whether I had a problem or not.

    Handling this as many of today's parents might (as proven through my line of work):
    Your street is too narrow.

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  4. I hope that by the time my girls can drive they feel like they can talk to me. I hope that they would be the ones to tell me what happened. Is this wishful thinking?

    I am sure you remember but, I did hit a mailbox, in your car, but I was responsible & told my parents. My parents were cool about it. Of course it was just a scratched bumper & the mailbox was fine. I also wasn't drinking or on drugs. And I was thirty!

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  5. This has bothered me so much since I spoke to you yesterday morning Jan. What really upsets me is the response by the cop. The idea that the sanctuary of your house protects you is just crazy to me. I understand that he probably couldn't be arrested for DUI if he's not behind the wheel anymore, but he did destroy property and then flee the scene. That is a crime no matter where you are. What if he had hit a person that was standing in your yard. Would he get off because he's in his house?
    I really think you need to follow up with the MPD or at least give our friend Daniel Sherwin a call to see if this was handled properly. What did his insurance say?

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  6. Joe, I am sure if it was a crime like hitting a person, they could be arrested. However, if someone gets home apparently they can't arrest them for the DUI. They can't prove they didn't start drinking once they were home.

    I agree though. It seems like a huge hole in the system.

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  7. Also, his insurance has been good. They should drop him though.

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  8. Right but what about the crime of destruction of property and fleeing the scene?

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  9. i have seen berry drive a golf cart,this could have happened to him :)

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  10. Joe, I don't think that bothered the police. They said if his insurance didn't pay, we would have to take it to court.

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  11. And that is wrong. I think it all does down to 1 lazy cop who didn't want to take the time do the right thing because of the paperwork it would result in.

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