Today I pulled a dent out of the hood of my car. I ordered a suction cup type dent puller online and it got in on Friday. So this morning I went out to my car, wiped the dent clean and then applied the suction cup. It took surprisingly little force before I heard the dent pop back out. The fix isn't perfect, there is some residual waviness, but it is not very noticeable, especially compared to the dent.
So how did the dent get into my hood? Well, that story is much longer and started last weekend. I was driving to the grocery store, planning to stop for breakfast on the way. I was stopped at a light when I saw three men off to my right. They were on the island between the straight lanes and the lane that turns right.
I'm not sure exactly what was going on, but the two white guys were taking the coat off of the black guy. The black guy wasn't putting up much of a fight, until the two other guys starting walking off. They were saying something back and forth, but I had no idea what. One of the white guys kept walking, and the other turned back. The two started fighting. Well, they never quite got around to actually landing any punches or kicks, but they went through the preliminaries.
The guy who was not participating in any of this, grabbed his buddy and starting pulling him away, across the street in front of me. There were still some words being exchanged, but it looked like the confrontation was over. Then the black guy started following them across the street. It was at this point that the light turned green.
Since they were directly in front of my car, I didn't proceed. Eventually they cleared the way, and I started forward. I'd gotten about three feet when the black guy turned around and started back across the street. I stopped well before I would have hit him, but that didn't stop him from turning his anger on me and kicking my car.
At this point, I decided it wouldn't be the best idea to get out of my car and confront this individual. First of all, I was in the middle of traffic, second of all, he was clearly in a contentious mood. Third, I didn't know what the other two guys would do. So once he cleared the way, I drove off.
I got to the diner where I was going to have breakfast and got out and checked my car. Sure enough there was a dent where the guy had kicked my car. I tried to decide what to do. Judging from the looks of the guy, I was guessing there was a good chance he was homeless. Even if I could find him, there chances of him having any money to fix the dent was small. I also tried to decide about an insurance claim, but figure that was a losing proposition, because it would be near or below the deductable.
I had a quick breakfast while I tried to figure it out. I decided to go back to see if any of the three were still around. I stopped at the gas station near the corner where this had all happened. I thought I had seen the guy before I pulled in. I got out of my car and looked back toward the intersection and the guy who kicked my car was walking towards me.
He asked very politely and humbly, "Excuse me sir, have you seen two guys walking by here." I said I had seen him kick my car. He seemed a bit surprised by this, although he did say he'd pay for it. I thought it highly unlikely but didn't know what to say. He said that the guys had taken his bag and his coat. I hadn't seen a bag on either of the two men, but I had seen them take his coat.
He kept going on about the coat, and when he realized I had seen what happened he got a bit frustrated, but when I reminded him about him kicking my car, he just sat on the ground. He said he was homeless (he'd mentioned something about Pine Street Manor which is the homeless shelter a few blocks from where all this had happened), and they'd gotten all his stuff. He also said he didn't do drugs, although the smell coming off of him belied that idea (although it could have been from being homeless and unbathed). I talked to him a bit more and decided to call the cops. The guy agreed about calling the cops.
I talked to the cops for a bit, describing what I had seen between the three men and then what the guy had done to my car. She asked me if I felt comfortable letting the guy talk about what happened. At this point the guy was super passive, so I handed over my phone. He held it backwards, and even after I turned it around for him he still was having a hard time. I ended up holding the phone for him while he described what happened.
His story was that he'd put his bag down somewhere and when he came back he saw three guys walking away with a bag that looked like his. He'd asked to look at the bag to see if it was, but said he'd done it really politely since he didn't want to start anything. Apparently they kept going with his bag and his $250 dollar coat (that his brother had given him out of love).
The guy eventually wound down and I spoke briefly to the dispatcher again, then the police cruiser showed up. The guy started talking to the police office while I waited. The officer sat rather stoically through the whole story. Eventually a second cruiser came up with two more police officers. I talked to them briefly and showed them the dent in my car.
There was now a third police cruiser on hand, and a fourth officer. The guy who kicked my car came over to where I was talking to the officers about the dent and what had happened. They asked him if he'd kicked my car. He said yes, and the cop immediately said, "Put your hands behind your back, you're under arrest." The guy wasn't surprised, or even seemingly upset.
One of the cops quipped, "That was easy." I was a bit upset about this. They didn't seem to care that the guy had his stuff stolen. They told me I could leave. I asked if they wanted a description of the other two guys. They said they'd gotten the description from the guy they'd just arrested. I said he couldn't remember how many guys there were. So reluctantly they let me start describing them.
I started the description and the cop said, "So they looked like junkies." I tried to say they looked like townies. I also said that the whole thing would have been caught on the traffic camera. But apparently for something like this, they wouldn't go through the hassle. They said that it was probably just two other guys from the methadone clinic. The guy who kicked my car, hadn't mentioned anything about his bag being stolen while he was in the methadone clinic.
I talked briefly to the first cop who had arrived at this point. Mentioned which way the guys had gone. I said I hadn't seen them with a bag, but I had seen the coat. I said it was a long black quilted coat with fur trim. He asked if it had a money symbol on it. I hadn't seen anything of the sort. The coat the guy had described to him, totally didn't match the one I had seen. So I wonder where he had gotten the coat. I also wonder whether the guys I had seen were two of the three guys that might (or might not) have stolen the guy's bag and the coat he described to the cops.
I feel bad for the guy. He has his stuff stolen, and in a moment of anger he takes it out on someone else (well, that someone else's car). As a result, he gets arrested. I don't know what's happened to him since, I haven't heard from the cops about the matter. I do know they don't feel sorry for him, since in their eyes he's just a junkie. Maybe someday he'll be more than that.
