A car was rear ended today when they stopped for me to cross a cross walk. I had a green light, but I stopped on the curb and checked to my left just to make sure, as I always do. Then I heard squealing and a crunch. The back end of her 2 day old car had been crushed by a city recycling truck.

They pulled into a nearby parking lot and I headed over and gave her my contact information, then continued on my way to 7-11. Since I didn’t actually see anything I didn’t think I would be much help, but I did what I could. I passed the parking lot on my way back, and there was an ambulance there, apparently her neck started hurting. Normally there a 2 hour wait time at an absolutely minimum for accident reports, but when there’s an ambulance involved and/or a city vehicle, apparently you get bumped up the chain. I waited about another 10 minutes and a police officer showed up.

“Are you the witness,” he asked?
“Sort of,” I replied. I said I was the pedestrian she had stopped for. He asked if I had the light and I said yes. Since I hadn’t seen anything, I couldn’t take my statement.
“That’s what I figured, but I wanted to stick around in case it would help at all.”
“I really appreciate that,” said the officer. “That’s a civic duty that very few people would have done. Thanks anyway.”

I hope the girl’s okay. I can’t shake the feeling she’s milking it since she was out of the car and walking around when I first showed up. But sometimes those things don’t manifest immediately, especially when you’ve got some adrenalin in you.