Super Crime Fighters
Yesterday, on the drive back from the hike, Morgan and I witnessed a slight car accident on the 101 freeway. I was driving behind a small silver-gray Honda when a red pick-up truck in the lane to the right of us began to change lanes without looking. The small car tried to avoid the truck as much as possible without switching to the lane to our left but the driver of the red truck didn't stop and nudged the small car. He immediately went back into his lane as a small piece of red taillight came bouncing down the lane towards me.
As both cars headed to the side of the freeway, the red truck pulled in front of a semi-truck but the small car got stuck behind the large semi. He almost pulled off the freeway until he realized the red truck that hit him wasn't pulling over. He began to follow the truck, but to my surprise and frustration, he was following pretty far back as if he didn't even want to catch up to the red truck. I was getting more pissed at the accident victim than the fleeing suspect for not following more persistently.
I continued to follow the red truck in front of me as I kept an eye on the gray car behind me. I told Morgan to grab her camera and take a picture of the license plate of the red truck. With her new digital XTi camera and her 300mm zoom lens, she managed to snap a couple of close shots of the plate.
I began to lose sight of the small gray car. It was apparent that he had no intentions of trying to catch up to the red truck which was not driving fast by any means considering he was in the far right lane. The driver of the small car was on his cell phone so I assumed he was reporting the hit-and-run to the highway patrol. Perhaps he was afraid the guy driving the truck had a gun or something.
A few miles down the freeway, the red truck decided to exit and I couldn't see the gray car anymore. At that point I decided to call the CHP to tip them off about what exit the truck got off at. After speaking with the dispatcher, she confirmed that there were already units looking for the truck. I gave her my information and hung up the phone. A few hours later at home, I received a call from the investigating officer who asked me for more information. After talking with him for a while, I began to apologize for not really remembering exactly what the truck looked like or what the driver looked like. But he ensured me that I was helping since we were able to give the police a license plate number which is more than the other driver was able to do.
When he asked me if I remembered what the truck looked like, I gave him a brief description which was pretty vague. And then I told him that we had a picture of the truck if he would rather have that. He seemed to perk up at the idea. He asked if it was taken on a cell phone and then I told him that Morgan actually had a digital SLR and that we could email it to him if he wanted. He did.
I hope they catch the guy in the red truck. If they do, it is partly because of Morgan and Myself: Super Crime Fighters.
Tags: crime, hit and run, 101 Freeway, CHP
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