Woke up late in the day. Nothing unusual about that being as Hubby and I stay up till early in the morning. We got up and got ready for the photo shoot we had scheduled that evening and we were in contact with some people, trying to make plans for the night.
The shoot was fun. It was a business party. They had the entry way set up with a red carpet, nice stanchions with red velvet ropes, and a banner with all of their client company logos printed on it so it looked like a Hollywood Red Carpet party. We got a picture of all the "stars" coming in and later on brought in our photo booth props to take some fun photos. It was a nice evening with good food and the party favors were hand painted chocolates that we got to partake in!
We had been messaging the people we were trying to set up plans with when we had breaks during the event. Plans fell through. They weren't able to join us for dinner that night so we set our navigation system to bring us home. Hubby drove as usual.
Down the road a ways we were stopped at a red light, a car or two behind the line. Hubby and I were talking about the event that just ended, how bummed we were that our dinner plans fell through, and our busy schedule for the next few days. That's when we heard the first crunch. I thought "That didn't sound good" and I was turning my head to look in the side mirror. Second crunch. "Uh-oh." Hubby and I both lurched forward. I started choking on my gasp I had tried to let out. Hubby immediately asked if I was okay. As I shook my head yes and and cleared my throat he pulled off the road into an abandoned gas station adjacent to where the crash occurred.
I got out of the car. There was another lady that had pulled into the same parking lot. She (the witness) stopped me as I got out of the car and told me her story. She said she was going home from church and saw this car driving erratically. She threw her hand up and started praying that no one got hurt. She decided that instead of stopping at the light she would turn off and into this lot.
I might have said okay, but I'm not sure if I said any thing at all. I was focused on making sure everyone was okay after that. I crossed the street as soon as I could and went to the passenger side of the car that was behind us (car #3.) He (person 3) was on the phone, I think with 911 already. He said he was okay and he was the only one on the car. So I moved to the car behind him (car #2.) Passenger side again. She (person 2) was very shaken up. She rolled down the window or I opened the door, can't remember which. I asked if she was okay. She seemed a little dazed when she looked at me, but she did look at me and said "yeah, I think so." She was the only one in that car.
I moved to the driver side of the car that had started the collisions (car #1.) I helped her pry open the door. I asked if she (person 1) was okay. She was so out of it she couldn't look at me and she wasn't or couldn't say anything. I saw that her leg was really beat up and bleeding. She was trying to get out of the car when my hubby came up to me and said he needed me out of the road. He wanted me over in the parking lot where I would be safer. I said fine, but he needed to help her. I started snapping pictures on the my way across the street to the lot.
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| car # 1 |
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| car # 1 |
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| car #2 |
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| car #2 |
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| hood of car #2 and trunk of car #3 |
I took a couple pictures of our car while I had the chance. There was no terrible damage, not even adequate damage to reflect how hard we lurched forward.
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| Our car was #4 |
A little bit bent in a couple of places, the bumper looks like it came loose from the rest of the car on one side. I didn't get a picture of the middle of the bumper where it's bent upward and the paint is cracked because I didn't notice it until there was more light. Also the licence plate was bent in and the rear hatch has a slight wobble in it, whether that's from rubbing on part of the bent bumper or something happened to the door we can't tell.
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| Car #1 & #2 |
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| Car #2 & #3 |
The paramedics got there pretty quickly. I watched as they got the cars off the road. The other victims were in the lot with me by this time. The witness was telling her story to them. Then I watched as they helped person 1 out of her car and brought her into the ambulance on a stretcher.
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| Car #3 |
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| Car #1 & #2 |
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| Hood of car #1 & car #2 |
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| Car #2 |
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| Car #1 and trunk of #2 |
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| Car #1 (it was gushing fluids) |
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| Car #1 Person 1 on stretcher |
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| Person 1 on stretcher |
Person 2 pointed out that there were no skid marks. It didn't look like person 1 had even tried to stop, but there were no skid marks from our cars that were already stopped at the light either.
After person 1 was in the ambulance a firefighter or paramedic was walking around between us other victims and making sure we were all okay. We all had to sign waivers saying we weren't going to the hospital in an ambulance. Hubby, over protective daddy, brought over another first responder to check up on me. He checked my pulse and asked me about sharp pains then turned his words toward hubby telling him that mothers know when there's something wrong and if I say I'm okay, I'm probably okay.
All the first responders left before the police got to the scene. They left right after they got everyone to sign the waver and the witness left when they did. Before the witness left she laid her hands on my stomach -without asking- hubby had told her I was prego and prayed -without asking. I was a bit uncomfortable with that to say the least, but I didn't say anything. It probably made her feel like she was doing something helpful so I let it be. We were left to wait for the police, calm down, and talk with each other.
Person 2 called her husband who got there before the police. She was heading home from work, she works at a well known local law firm. Person 3 seemed to be a college student at a local university, he was on his way to dinner with family. His mother came to the scene before the police did as well. We were heading home as well, and I'm glad hubby was with me the whole time! Hubby was telling everyone that I am pregnant. We were all still pretty shook up.
Someone realized that person 1's car was with ours in the lot. They wanted to find her insurance card and check out her car for any smells while we waited for the police. We all wanted to know what caused this chaos. We had lights out and were looking at all the cars, amazed at the damage (or surprising lack of damage in our car's (#4) case.)
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| Car #2 hood |
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| Car #2 trunk |
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| Car #3 trunk (not much damage to his hood that hit us) |
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| Car #1 (the only car who's airbag deployed) |
Person 3 pried open his trunk and found an open bag of chips that he said were sealed before this. After a while of sharing his chips and getting to know each other we started to wonder what we could do, why was it taking the police so long? When the cop (officer #1) did get to the scene he explained that there was a problem up the road that swat was involved in so he was called in from across town. He had us all stand by our cars to get our information, insurance drivers licence, and version of what had happened.
As officer #1 was in his car typing out the police report another cop car joined us. Officer #2 came on the scene to see if he could make any charges toward person 1. He said that the witness was not relevant, that her story of erratic driving couldn't be used in court, but he got her information that the witness had left with person 2. Person 3 had come forward telling officer 2 that a paramedic told him she admitted to drinking before she was driving, but that is all hear-say.
Officer 2 asked hubby an I multiple times if we saw her in the driver seat then showed us her driver licence picture (he had searched her car I think) to confirm that was who was driving. That was one of his last questions before he left to go to the hospital where person 1 had been taken by ambulance. He said he was going to try and talk to her and hopefully get a blood test to see if she was intoxicated.
When officer 1 was done with the police report he gave us all a copy and we were free to go. I think car #2 was the only car that was un-drive-able, she had her husband there to get her home. Person 3 said his car was drive-able but his mother seemed to want to drive him to wherever he needed to go. Our car (#4) has been fine to drive. We said our good byes and parted ways.
When we got home hubby had made himself a drink and I dug into cookie dough & milk. My neck and shoulders were a bit sore, and hubby was saying his shoulder that has been dislocated in the past was a bit sore. Other than that we weren't experiencing any pain. Then we went to sleep. (Though the dog woke me up twice chewing on things he shouldn't, then I locked him in his crate and he barked. It wasn't the most restful sleep like I was hoping for.)
