Short story:
Donald R. Donahue from 759 Meadowbrook Ave. SE Warren, Ohio 44484 who drives a 2002 silver Mazda Protege5 with license plate DQB-1521 hit me today and ran away, but the Virginia police told me they can't really do anything.
Long story:
I was in Springfield, VA today to videograph my cousin's wedding. After the wedding ceremony, I was driving to the reception area. While making a left turn from Amherst Ave. onto Commerce St. in Springfield a car that was in the inner turning lane crossed over and hit me from the behind. I turned on my blinkers and got out of the car. I noticed the person was a white male in his late 40s or 50s, driving a silver Protege5. I quickly wrote down the license plate number and demanded the insurance information, and he replied, "I didn't hit anything." >_< While I was walking towards the car right behind (to get some witness info), the Protege driver decided to punch the gas and took off. I was like, "what the?" and immediately followed him. His Protege5 wasn't hard to catch up to with my MS3, but he was driving like a bankrobber on the run. He turned onto I-495 from Commerce st, and it looked like he hit a new silver (sandy color) Honda Civic coupe as he was running away from me because now that car was attempting to get this lunatic to pull over.
This guy was starting to upset me because he would do stuff like slamming on his brakes, trying to make me crash into him.
I frantically got on my phone and called 911, and they told me... to pull over, so they could file a report (all the while I'm chasing him). I was like "wha~?" but I obeyed and pulled over to the side, letting this Ohio driver to disappear from my sight. Then this operator told me that because the accident happened in Fairfax County, I'd have to meet up with a Fairfax Co. police to file the report. So we decided that I'd meet up with an officer at a 7-11 in Annandale. After twenty minutes or so, a female officer came to the location, and told me that they had gotten another call reporting an accident with the matching car description in Springfield (turns out that the person in front of me saw the whole thing and reported). She then continued to tell me that because the guy's car is registered in Ohio, and because the state of OH does not give up the necessary info needed to pursue this case to other jurisdictions, it'd be almost impossible to do anything. She added that by filing a report to my insurance company, I might actually do more harm to my records than good since the damage is minor. I asked with a straight face, "so because this guy is from Ohio, he could kill someone with the car and get away with it?" She replied, "well... that would be different. With minor cases like yours, he'd only get a $20 ticket." She asked me if I still wanted to file a report (I said yes), and when I asked her, "honestly speaking if this were your car what would you do?" she said, "nothing. It sucks."
From the police report she wrote up, I now know this jerk of a person's name is Donald R. Donahue who lives (or used to live) at 759 Meadowbrook Ave SE Warren, Ohio 44484. Ohio License plate DQB-1521 for the 2002 silver Mazda Protege5. Funny thing was that I had my nice video equipment in my passenger seat (for the wedding), but it never occurred to me to record him (would've made a hell of a youtube video). According what the police officer told me, that probably wouldn't have mattered anyway though. >_< It would have been like... I (and the witnesses) have this video of the person who hit me. I know his car model/year/ license plate, his name and even where he lives, but ultimately I have to pay to fix my car.
I love the American justice system, don't you?
Donald R. Donahue from 759 Meadowbrook Ave. SE Warren, Ohio 44484 who drives a 2002 silver Mazda Protege5 with license plate DQB-1521 hit me today and ran away, but the Virginia police told me they can't really do anything.
Long story:
I was in Springfield, VA today to videograph my cousin's wedding. After the wedding ceremony, I was driving to the reception area. While making a left turn from Amherst Ave. onto Commerce St. in Springfield a car that was in the inner turning lane crossed over and hit me from the behind. I turned on my blinkers and got out of the car. I noticed the person was a white male in his late 40s or 50s, driving a silver Protege5. I quickly wrote down the license plate number and demanded the insurance information, and he replied, "I didn't hit anything." >_< While I was walking towards the car right behind (to get some witness info), the Protege driver decided to punch the gas and took off. I was like, "what the?" and immediately followed him. His Protege5 wasn't hard to catch up to with my MS3, but he was driving like a bankrobber on the run. He turned onto I-495 from Commerce st, and it looked like he hit a new silver (sandy color) Honda Civic coupe as he was running away from me because now that car was attempting to get this lunatic to pull over.
This guy was starting to upset me because he would do stuff like slamming on his brakes, trying to make me crash into him.
I frantically got on my phone and called 911, and they told me... to pull over, so they could file a report (all the while I'm chasing him). I was like "wha~?" but I obeyed and pulled over to the side, letting this Ohio driver to disappear from my sight. Then this operator told me that because the accident happened in Fairfax County, I'd have to meet up with a Fairfax Co. police to file the report. So we decided that I'd meet up with an officer at a 7-11 in Annandale. After twenty minutes or so, a female officer came to the location, and told me that they had gotten another call reporting an accident with the matching car description in Springfield (turns out that the person in front of me saw the whole thing and reported). She then continued to tell me that because the guy's car is registered in Ohio, and because the state of OH does not give up the necessary info needed to pursue this case to other jurisdictions, it'd be almost impossible to do anything. She added that by filing a report to my insurance company, I might actually do more harm to my records than good since the damage is minor. I asked with a straight face, "so because this guy is from Ohio, he could kill someone with the car and get away with it?" She replied, "well... that would be different. With minor cases like yours, he'd only get a $20 ticket." She asked me if I still wanted to file a report (I said yes), and when I asked her, "honestly speaking if this were your car what would you do?" she said, "nothing. It sucks."
From the police report she wrote up, I now know this jerk of a person's name is Donald R. Donahue who lives (or used to live) at 759 Meadowbrook Ave SE Warren, Ohio 44484. Ohio License plate DQB-1521 for the 2002 silver Mazda Protege5. Funny thing was that I had my nice video equipment in my passenger seat (for the wedding), but it never occurred to me to record him (would've made a hell of a youtube video). According what the police officer told me, that probably wouldn't have mattered anyway though. >_< It would have been like... I (and the witnesses) have this video of the person who hit me. I know his car model/year/ license plate, his name and even where he lives, but ultimately I have to pay to fix my car.
I love the American justice system, don't you?
