On the way to BJ's tonight, I was on Packer Ave and waiting at the light to make a right onto Penrose/Myomyssing. There was a tractor-trailer in front of me making a right hand turn. We had a green light, but the driver was going extremely slow around the turn. At one point, I turned to Mike and said "I think he's going to hit that pole." See, there was a metal light pole (with a street light, not traffic light) a few feet on the sidewalk and it had a yield sign on it. I figured the truck was going to hit the sign. But after making contact with the sign, it became obviously apparent that the truck was going to hit the pole. Well, sorry to disappoint, but the truck did not hit the pole. Instead, the force of the truck pushing against the sign caused the pole to buckle and fall onto the sidewalk. This, in turn, caused the light to instantly shatter into a million pieces.
It was truly a sight. I just sat there in my car and was amazed. It was one of the coolest things I've seen.
We continued making our right behind the truck. The truck put on his 4-ways and drove slowly. After the next stop sign, we determined he wasn't going to stop, so being the ever law abiding citizen that I am, I called the police. While talking to the police, the trucker kept on driving slowly. At one point, he stopped in the middle of a block. Before I could get back behind him again (I had gotten stopped at a red light), a police car pulled behind him. So it was the truck, cop car, and then me. The cop was obvious to everything and started using his horn to get the truck to move. I had a little bit of room, so I pulled up beside the cop (while still talking to the dispatcher on the phone). I rolled down the window and told the cop that the truck had knocked over a light pole and had just stopped but was likely to start moving again.
The cop's response? "I'll notify dispatch and have someone from this district come out." I was a bit puzzled but let it go. Then the cop car put his lights on. I figured this was to help with traffic since the truck was still blocking the road. Nope. The cop just turned down a side street and drove off.
The truck then began moving again. We decided to follow the truck and after driving down to 2nd and Oregon, we decided to call the police again to get this guy. Nope--the dispatcher asked where the light pole was down and then said she'd send someone out and hung up.
End of the story? Not quite. We continued to follow this truck along Delaware Avenue and after he slowed to about 5mph, we soon got tired of our pursuit. So we drove off. Shortly thereafter, we ran into another cop pulling into a shopping center. I pulled in and when the cop got out of the car, told her what happened. She said they'd take care of it and then she turned and went into Chuck E. Cheeses.
What the hell? My tax dollars will be used to fix the broken light as well as to pay the cop's salary to visit Chuck E. Cheeses? That's absurd. Why did they let this guy go? I spoke with my dad after the event and he pointed out the fact that I get pulled over for going on the curb a few inches, but a truck can go on the sidewalk a foot and knock down a light post and nothing happens? That's bullshit.
2 more things to note:
*There was plenty of room for the truck to pull forward farther to complete the turn without hitting the light pole--this is an intersection of 3 different streets and is a very large intersection.
*Second, the license plate of the truck is OK tags, number 633-7CD. If you see him driving along the road, give him the finger.
It was an exciting 30-45 minutes while in pursuit. :)
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