Help Recoup Some Losses from Freak Accident

Hello, my name is Tim and with the encouragement of some friends, I decided to start a Go Fund Me campaign to recoup a portion of the losses from an accident that occurred on Tuesday, January 25th. That morning I was in my driveway warming up my car, as temperatures were near single digits, and brushing off snow that had fell the night before before I hit the road for work. I had just moved from the back of the car to the front when I heard two loud bangs. The first was an SUV hitting my wagon and the second was the SUV hitting my van, totaling both. As I stood in shock, staring at the damage, I realized the wagon was still running, however the SUV had come to a stop about 50 yards away, its front passenger wheel at a 45 degree angle.

At this point the driver walks over and keeps repeating the same phrase, "Can we talk? Can we talk? Can we talk?" My response was, "Yeah, can I see your license and insurance card. " His response was the same, "Can we talk? Can we talk? Can we talk?" It was hard to tell if this young man was drunk, high, in shock, or all three. Realizing our conversation wasn't going anywhere, I walked over to his vehicle to take a picture of his license plate. This is when he started to get aggressive.

He jumped in front of me and tried to rip off his license plate with his bare hands. He only managed to fold it in half before jumping back in the car and trying to drive away. I unfolded the license plate, took a photo, then walked back to my vehicles and dialed 911. Realizing his car was dead, the man ran over to me and repeated the same phrase, but was now getting in my face. At this point I kept repeating, "Back-up and give me some space." For the first time he said something other than "Can we talk?" His face now very close to my face, he said belligerently, "Who are you talking to?" I responded, "My insurance company. Back-up and give me some space." As he appears to be getting angry and more aggressive I start thinking I should walk over to my neighbor Abdul's house and bang on the door to get his attention. At that point however, two police cars happen to pull up. The man in the bright red hoodie starts walking briskly in the direction the police just came then goes into a full sprint. I am vigorously pointing at the man as the police meander over to me. I yell and point, "That man, that car, totaled these two cars." The police finally figure out what's going on and one gets in his car and heads back in the direction in which he came. The other officer stays, asks my story, and tells me they weren't responding to my 911 call, they happened to be returning from another call.

Paperwork is exchanged and the police officer tells me he couldn't find an insurance card in the SUV. The other officer returns with his story of failing to catch the guy, "He must have slid down the hill. I don't know where he went. "

I then call my insurance company with advice from the officer about a state report, etc. The agent on the other end bluntly says, "There's nothing we can do. You only have liability insurance." I plead with the agent, "Can't you advocate for me with the owner of the other car?" "No. Besides, those people are probably poor because they don't have insurance, so even if you tried to sue them and won, you will probably never see that money." What I needed right then was not an insurance agent being curt and pointing out the harsh realities of life. Honestly, a white lie or a little sympathy would have helped tremendously.

I proceeded to call a local scraper to tow away the van as it was in the road. Shortly after the officer who wrote the report called to tell me that they tracked down the owner of the car and that it was not the young man's car, but his young girlfriend's and she indeed did not have insurance on her 2020 Chevy SUV. The officer ended our conversation with, "That's about all we can do."

So that's where I'm at. Big shout out to my buddy Maurice who has lent me his van in the interim and to the folks who have tried to scheme and scam how I can get back on the road with offers of broken down trucks and condolences.

If you have read this far and feel like you can donate a few dollars to help me recoup some expenses, I will forever be grateful. If you can't give, I am not any less grateful as I know there are folks in more difficult situations than myself right now. Thanks for taking the time. xoTimxo