Saturday, January 02, 2010

Almost Got Killed Today, Maybe

You know when you read about the people that get hit by cars that are involved in accidents, who are innocent bystanders sitting at a bus stop or something like that? Well, today, that almost happened to me and Zaire, my grandson.

The accident occurred at the intersection of Wilshire Blvd. and Fairfax Ave., where we were waiting for the 217 bus to get to McDonald's. A car, wrongly trying to make a left turn after the arrow allowed it to turn, clipped a car going through the intersection, which caused the clipped car to go diagonally toward the sidewalk, and up onto it using the driveway-like wheelchair access to cruise up the sidewalk. The car was heading straight for me and my grandson, and sadly, I froze ... I don't know why. I could see the driver, and he was pissed and yelling and screaming at the other driver that hit him, and the driver that hit him, still in the intersection, was yelling right back, and I swear to god, I thought one of them was going to pull out a gun and start shooting the other.

What was equally weird was that within 30 seconds, one police car, with non-uniformed officers was flagged to the scene, and then immediately following that one, another police vehicle with non-uninformed officers also arrived.

I gave the driver of the car that almost hit my grandson and I my card, as I had witnessed the entire event, and the lawyer in me long ago learned that when you hear the crash of the accident, look at the light first ... the dispute is always over who had the right of way. So, I saw the light was green for the driver who almost hit us and knew he had the right of way. But I was definitely shaking in my shoes, seeing that car just keep coming in my direction and up onto the sidewalk. Luckily, he stopped, and for all parties concerned, it was really a small fender bender, one without injuries, just two pissed off men.

I need to work on my reflexes ...

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