On Saturday night, I responded to a traffic collision where a vehicle collided into a wall. When I arrived, I saw a car on the side of the road next to a block wall that was painted gray. There were tire marks along the wall, which showed the car had bounced up against it a couple of times.
The driver, who we’ll call Jim, was in his 40s and was standing next to his wife. I walked up to him and asked, “What happened?”
The man said, “I dropped my cigarette and hit the wall.”
With a smile I said, “You know they say cigarette smoking can be hazardous to your health.” At first he didn’t say anything, but then managed a nervous laugh. I said, “Thanks for laughing at my jokes.Where’s the cigarette?”
“I have no idea.”
My quick-witted partner said, “I bet you never saw that on the Surgeon General’s warning label before.” Jim didn’t get the joke, but I laughed because I get Matt’s humor.
While I was talking with Jim, I noticed a strange odor on his breath, so I asked him, “How many beers did you drink tonight?”
“None.”
I said, “I smell something on your breath.”
His wife, who was standing to my right, suddenly blew air out of her mouth at me like I was a birthday candle.
With a scowl on my face, I turned toward the woman and asked, “Did you just blow air at me?”
“Yes,” she replied. After she said that I wondered if she was wacky?
I turned away from her as I looked at Jim. I pointed to a light pole as I said, “Let go stand over there so your wife doesn’t blow on me again.” He and I then walked away. After we were done talking I went back to my car.
A few minutes later Jim said, “I found the cigarette.”
I looked over and saw Jim pointing into the car with a smile. I walked over and saw a cigarette with a burnt end on the seat. There was also a round hole in the seat that was burned.
The woman looked at Jim as she said, “This is my car and he’s not supposed to smoke in there.”
I couldn’t resist as I said, “He burned a hole in your seat too.”
She put her hands on her hips and gave Jim a look like she wished he had hit the light pole too.
I love the things that come out of people’s mouths at traffic collisions. It’s like they stepped into a world where the rules of privacy and too much information don’t exist.
How many of us know someone who was injured on-duty and was off of work for an extended period of time. Now, think of how many times you called that person or sent them a text message to see how they were doing? Probably not often or at all. Over the years I’ve been guilty of not making that call also.
The clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve night and it didn’t take long before we had our first DUI collision of 2016. Luckily the first victim was only a tree and not some unlucky person, who was minding their own business on their way home.
Badge415 