I was stopped for a red arrow in the left turn lane when the dispatcher called me over the radio saying, “729.”
“729?” I responded as I gave my location.
The dispatcher came back on the radio and sent me to a crash involving a car that had struck a wall on the west end of the city.
“10-4,” I replied.
My light was still red, but the traffic signal for through traffic was green. I decided to move over and go straight rather than wait for the red arrow. I put the car in reverse as I quickly glanced into the rear view mirror. Apparently, I glanced up too quickly……
I started to back up and I felt a bump.
It was a bump, not a thump. It was a bump in the night.
A bump you say?
There was one problem with this bump. There was no Thing One or Thing Two. There was no Cat In The Hat or Dr Seuss to make this a funny story.
The bump in the night was my police car hitting the car behind me.
With an embarrassed feeling, I got on the radio and gave my location as I told dispatch that I was just involved in a traffic collision. I then waited for a sergeant to come out and take a look.
When it was all said and done, there there was no damage to the other car, but there were some minor scratches to my rear bumper. Another patrol unit was called to take my collision report. Ironically, I had taken his report when he was in training. This was the first time where a prior customer took my report.
After I cleared the call, I ran into one of my old traffic buddies. He heard what happened and just laughed at me. I laughed with him, but it didn’t make me feel any better.
Then someone pulled a copyright infringement on me and used one of my traffic sayings when they said, “You just can’t go around hitting shit.”
OMG. It was hilarious. I never thought that saying would be used on me.
Badge415 
Happens to the best of us!
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My only “Oh, shit!” was a low lying, hidden from view, evil, cop hating flower pot. I was a training officer but luckily sans trainee (the rookie would have been driving anyway). After the humiliation wore off and I received my “verbal counseling”, my sergeant informed me I was now qualified for, and duly appointed to, the Accident Review Team. Oh joy. They replaced me a year later when I got my detective badge. No shortage of uniformed “bumpers” qualified for the ART.
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Good story. I’m glad you got your detective badge a year later so someone else could have that title. Lol
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My husband had been on the force for about a month. Working nights, a little over zealous. Got a call, was running with lights but not siren in the middle of the night. Another car did not yield at intersection. My husband took out 3 cars in someone’s driveway. For the next 30 years he was known as CRASH.
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Haha. I feel for him because i’ve been called “crash” before also. Thanks for sharing. It brought back memories from when i was new also.
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