Hit and Run
Sunday, January 16, 2011 - Posted by -Kel at 7:47 AM
My first indication that this was not going to be a stellar day should have been the inmate release papers that I found shoved under my office door. I thought to myself that surely the release was for next week or even next month, but no. The date staring me in the face was 1/14/11. And what's even better is that this particular inmate was an illegal being picked up by Immigration for deportation, which meant there was no scheduled time of release and there was NO telling what time I.C.E would actually show up for him. Great. And I had to wait for him to go so that he could sign my paperwork so that I could then process a reimbursement before I left. Yay.
So I processed the funds release, wrote and keyed time cards, and processed my system releases in record time. Around 9:30 I decided to run to the bank and cash the checks when my boss called me in to his office. By the time he finished explaining the working papers he wanted me to do to prepare for Program Review (5 months away) it was 10, and Receiving and Discharge was calling me to say that Immigration was coming through the door. I still had not made it to the bank.
I ran over to R&D and gave the Immigration Officer the money for the inmate, whipped out a reimbursement voucher to send to Treasury and was on my way to the bank by 10:15. I was next in line at the bank, waiting for my turn with a teller when one of the bank employees called to me from behind the customer service desk. "I can help you over here," she yelled. I looked at her and thought to myself "I doubt it, but let's see," I walked over to her, handed her the checks and said "I need these cashed and this is how I need it broken down." She looked the checks over and said "Well I can do the bills but I don't have any coin. We'll have to.."
"No, I need it broken down exactly like this," I interrupted. She then proceeded to hand the checks back to me and said "You'll probably need to see one of these two tellers over here" indicating the row of cashiers that I was ALREADY in line to see in the first place. I thought to myself "no way in hell am I going to the back of that damn line" and so I stood directly in front of the windows just waiting for one to open up. When one became free I began to step forward at the same time another woman from the original line did. She proceeded to give me the stink eye and said "The line is back there," pointing at it. At this point I must admit that I completely lost my cool.
"YEAH? I was already IN THAT LINE and SHE called me over and can't even help me! It's MY turn!" I yelled at the lady. The entire bank froze and stared at me while the she mumbled "I didn't know," and returned to the front of the line. I didn't care at all that I had just made a HUGE scene, I just wanted to finish so I could go home. I handed the teller my checks and listened to her try to berate me for my outburst. "She didn't know. We pull customers from the line. She didn't know." she said to me with disdain barely hidden in her voice. I just glared at her and thought "Shut your trap and cash my effing checks, Barbie,". She counted out my money and I was finally on my way.
After I took the money back to work and locked it in my safe I was finally free. I had big plans that included PJ's, a box of Kleenex, my Kindle and maybe some NyQuil. I was about 5 miles away from work when it happened. I was driving on the interstate in the far left hand lane. To my right and about 1/2 a car length ahead of me was another car, green I think. A woman in a full size Chevy pickup came barrelling up behind the green car, right up on her ass, and I knew what was coming next. She wanted my spot and didn't care that I was already there. She even looked in her rear view mirror and made eye contact with me! As she started to come over I lay on the horn. It didn't matter, she just kept coming. So I grabbed tight to the wheel and jumped on my brakes, just trying to stay off the retaining wall as she hit my right front fender.
My ability to keep control of my own vehicle caused her to fishtail and then scrape down the wall on the left. I'm not sure if she bounced off the wall or over corrected (my guess is the second) but suddenly she was turned back out into traffic, sideways, where she then t-boned a Chevy S-10. He went spinning while she bounced off of him (I don't think she slowed down at all) and then he came to a stop in the middle of the interstate. I looked past the S-10 to see her continue, balls to the wall, down the interstate in a trail of smoke.
I cried and cried and cried. I wasn't hurt, just upset. The guy in the S-10 was hurt though. She nailed him squarely in the drivers door and pretty much turned the S-10 into an arc. The appropriate authorities and an ambulance came. I called hubby and asked him to come even though the truck was still drivable. I just needed him to be there for me, and so he was. Just his presence made me feel a little better, like I wasn't all alone in this. And then the Highway Patrol officer returned with even better news.
They got her.
Someone that was driving behind us and saw the accident followed her and called the police. She had stopped a couple of miles up the interstate at the Wal-Mart. I fully believe that she was going to ditch the truck in a busy parking lot and call someone to come and pick her up. Turns out the truck belonged to her daughter and it was insured. Oh Thank God!
Highway Patrol finished with us and sent us on our way. Hubby and I had a quick lunch and he headed back to work. Finally I was on my way home. Once I got there, curiosity got the best of me. So I grabbed the printout from HP, sat in front of the computer and went to OSCN (Oklahoma Supreme Court Network). I typed in the drivers name...and was instantly rewarded with search returns.
This woman has 5 aliases in addition to the name on her license and has been convicted and served time for the following...
1. Leaving the scene of an accident with injury
2. Driving while under the influence
3. Operating a vehicle in an unsafe manner
4. Possession of a controlled dangerous substance (2x)
5. Possession of drug paraphernalia
6. Larceny of merchandise from a retailer
7. Possession of a cocaine base
8. Possession of drug paraphernalia (different case)
And she had been charged with Possession W/ Intent to Distribute, but those charges were dropped.
So now I'm just waiting for the insurance company to call me back so I can get my truck fixed. How was your day?