The accident

Today we took a group of youth to our annual Thanksgiving dinner for the youth in our care. We had a WONDERFUL turnout, they played some cool give-away games and one of my kids won twice. The food was good, the energy was great and it was nice to see some of our kids having a GREAT time!

Since I was in San Antonio and had not seen our main office, I wanted to go with a group of youth from another program through BCFS who were going to the Transition Center in San Antonio to get a feel for it and maybe meet some of the people that I will surely be working with in the near future with my recent promotion.

After the luncheon, I jumped into the truck with the youth as a passenger and we headed towards the main office. There was some confusion from the youth in regards to how to get to the office from our location. We tuned into our phones to get directions and made our way.

The sky opened up and it started to rain, and as is common here after long periods of rain, the roads were slick. The youth driving was a little frustrated with getting turned around and when we finally figured out where we were, we took the turn around and headed towards the office.

The young man driving was going a little fast, but nothing over the speed limit and wasn't being reckless and came up on a line of traffic stopped for the light. He started to brake and I knew instantly that there was no way we were going to be able to stop in time. Because of the heavy traffic, there was no lane to escape to so he did a great job at trying to apply the brakes and we went into a slide...he did well....Off the brakes, on the brakes, off the brakes on the brakes....But it was useless....

I secured myself in the back seat, planted my feet for the impact and at about 10-15 miles an hour, we slid into the back of a trailer on a semi truck. When we hit, there was a cooler in the back seat that had sodas and water in it and once we hit, the cooler exploded and we were covered in water. We didn't realize the cooler had water in it so when it happened, the water exploding throughout the cab kinda freaked us all out.

Well, we hit the trailer hard enough to damage the truck to where the radiator was punctured and the vehicle wasn't going to be drivable...At least not for very far.

Immediately I asked the youth in the vehicle with me if they were ok, re-affirmed it a couple of times, checked them out quickly for any possible injuries, and after making sure they were OK, got out of the truck to check on the driver of the other truck. Of course, there was NO damage to the trailer as we hit the bar on the trailer designed to stop vehicles from crashing into and sliding under the trailer.

Once I found everyone was OK, I went back to the youth I was with, told him to turn off the ignition and to get out of the vehicle and onto the side of the roadway in a safe spot in case someone were to slide into the accident. The driver of the big truck said he called his dispatch and the police were on the way.

I called all of my bosses and explained what had just taken place and just waited for the police to get there. I knew very well that being in San Antonio, after lunch time, we were going to be there a while.

After about 20-25 minutes, a traffic unit fro SAPD arrived on scene and called on his PA...

"Where are the occupants of this truck"

And I walked up to him standing on the curb. He called for me to come to him and said in an almost yelling voice and a real pissy tone...

"So why is that truck siting there?"

"Because it was in a wreck."

"Why hasn't it been moved?"

"Because we were waiting on you and didn't want to move the vehicles from the scene."

He rolled his eyes, took a deep breath and said...

"Where is the driver of the other truck?"


"I don't know, I think he is in the truck?"

"Is this your truck?"

"No, its my company truck."

"Jeeeezus....."

He rolled his eyes again, slammed his unit into park and started to exit his unit. You could tell he was angry and upset (why, I have no idea) and I said...

"Officer, there is no reason to be rude..."

And was going to tell him this was a young man who hadn't been in an accident before and he exited his unit quickly, rushed up to about 3 inches from my face, stared me in the eye and said ....

"What did you just say?!"


With his chest out, in an aggressive approach....

I stood and didnt move and said...

"There is no reason to be rude."

He stepped a little closer and said...

"You better watch your mouth!"

"Watch my mouth??? I am just saying there is no reason to be rude." and stood there looking at him...

"Are you the driver of this truck?"


"No."

"Then why are you over here?"

"Because you called me over here!"

"I didn't call you over here!"


"Officer, why would I be standing in the middle of a roadway with traffic all around if you didn't call me over here?"


"I will tell you what, why don't you go over there where the witnesses stand and shut your mouth?!"

"Yes sir, I will be happy to do that!"

Of course, with a smirk on my face and shaking my head as I walked away.

He went to the other driver and started to get his information....Being short, rude and just plain ugly...

I mean THIS GUY was more pissed off than those of us in the accident!

Then he went to the young man driving and was abrupt, rude and just unprofessional.... The young man told him this was his first real accident and it was clear he was really nervous. There was no reason for this guy to act like this....It was a minor accident, no injuries, everyone did like they were supposed to do and I was a bit "miffed" about how he was dealing with this young man.... Maybe it was just me trying to protect this young man from some jerk-off cop with an attitude.

We got the vehicles off the roadway and the officer went into his duties to get the paperwork together. It wasn't until he got to the portion of the report that asked about injuries that he even asked if everyone was OK....Maybe he was just having a bad day or maybe he was just a jerk....But man, just soooo un-called for.

I had to take a couple of pictures of the damage and figured I would snap a picture of this guy "working"...

As I was standing there, I reflected about my time in the field and remembered I had been a TOOL a few times myself, but I don't ever recall being such a jerk to just average citizens in a minor accident.... Guess it was a little KARMA coming back to me!

Once again, I am reminded WHY I left that past profession and am SOOOOOO happy I am no longer in that field. If it WASN'T just a bad day, sure has to be a miserable life to walk around that pissed off all the time AND at such minor infractions....Cant imagine what this guy must be like on a "real" scene....

GEESH!! REEEEEEELLLAAAAXXXX man...REEEEE-LAX!!

Happy Monday.....TIS THE SEASON!! ;-)