I was in a car accident after playing a memorial show for Utah Phillips in Chicago last week. It was 1:30 a.m. and I was sitting at a stoplight. I sat there for fifteen seconds or so and BAM! I was rear ended and pushed out into the middle of an intersection. I was pretty dazed so I sat there for a few seconds. My glasses were thrown off of my face and I couldn’t find them (they were later found in the back seat). After a half minute or so I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a blurry white car backing up. The car went around my left side and drove off up ahead of me. I squinted and strained trying to see their license plate, but I couldn’t make it out. I’m blind as a bat without my glasses. As they drove by I heard a voice shouting at me out the window. It said “GET THAT BROKE F*CKER OFF THE ROAD, BITCH!” It wasn’t one of humanity’s finest moments.
I called 911 and waited at least a minute or more for someone to pick up the phone (Chuck D was right, 911 is a joke). It took the cops an hour and ten minutes to get to the scene. When they arrived they didn’t even get out of the car. They told me to drive to a police station and fill out a report. I told them that I was from out of state and I had no idea where the closest police station was. They told me that there isn’t a chance in hell of ever catching the person that fled the scene and that I shouldn’t even report it unless I wanted to report a claim to my insurance company. Then they drove off. It was 3:30 am in Chicago. I got in my car and drove to Michigan.
My back and neck hurt like hell for the next few days. I’m feeling fine a week later. My rear passenger side door on my car no longer opens and the rear end looks like hell.
That dude had to get back to Ravenswood before his old lady found out he went to Chicago without her. He says sorry. 🙂