During my afternoon bike ride I came upon a scary, and then, quite odd site. On the way back to Mt Pleasant, I heard a LOUD crash and looked up to see an SUV on its side and several people running towards the wreckage. The crash was on Adams Mill, north of Lanier St. The SUV was on its side; I was looking at the undercarriage as I arrived. I sped around the crash to see if I could help the passengers out of the driver's side window, which looked to be the only way out of the vehicle. Luckily two guys had beat me to the scene and one of the passengers was already out and walking, dazed. I walked up to him and stupidly asked "Are you ok?" Then I asked "Is there anyone else in the car?" He kind of shook his head, and I looked over to the crash site to see another fellow climbing out and jumping to the ground. The smell of burnt oil and rubber was heavy and I wondered if real crashed cars exploded as easily as the one's on TV did.Then something strange happened. The two passengers walked away. Not walked away to get perspective, or sit down, they walked away, like, AWAY. They were gone. In the fervor to make sure there weren't any other victims, the good samaritans who had gathered to help out, well, we were wondering what happened. I had called 911, and was on hold for a bit, then reported the accident. It was already on the books, according to the operator.
There was one major car casualty besides the SUV. A small Volkswagen looked to be totalled. It was parked on Adams Mill and the SUV t-boned it. Hard. Had I been 15-20 seconds ahead of myself I would have been pretty close to becoming a SUV-VW sandwich. Not to make light of the situation, but the what-ifs are always mind-boggling.
After the cavalry arrived (two ambulances, three police cruisers, fire truck) we started to realize what was happening. Fire fighters checked inside the rear door of the SUV, nothing. Luckily, no one in the parked cars which were damaged. The second fellow reappeared; in handcuffs. He had either stopped, or was apprehended a block away. Not clear if he returned to the scene by his own free will. He was put on a gurney (handcuffed to it) and taken away into an ambulance. Then we overheard one of the officers say that the licence plates on the SUV belonged, not to the SUV, but to a Dodge Plymouth. Something was afoot.
Then I went home.
