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Partner gets hits by car, the navy lies to us and loses our bike. Awesome.
So. I don't think I posted about it at the time, but about a month back, my partner got hit by a car while biking to work.
But wait. It gets better.
I was feeling lazy/tired/not-great that morning, and decided to bus; his bike route and my bus route are the same until about halfway to the respective destinations, after which it splits. Nearing the end of that convergence, he was crossing the driveway of the navy medical center when a car turned left onto the driveway off the street and hit him. He says the car mostly got the bike, which flew out from under him while he rolled over the hood of the car and then fell off onto his back. He says it was a pretty low-speed collision and most of the damage came from the ground, not the car. Some nearby construction workers called the accident in immediately and as this was right outside a huge medical complex, an ambulance arrived very quickly.
Meanwhile, I'm on the bus, also approaching the end of the converged routes. I hear some sirens. My phone rings. Partner tells me he got hit and they're putting him in the ambulance on a backboard and everything just in case.
Internet, let me tell you: the moment I realized the ambulance sirens I was hearing were for him was pretty great. By which I mean jesus christ.
I tried to tell him that I was right nearby and could come with him, but I don't think (having just been hit by a car) he was understanding me too great, as he kept saying I should go to work and he would keep me posted and I was like, uh, yeah, no, fuck that. By truly amazing coincidence the bus was just a stop or two away at that point, so I got the hell off the bus right across the street from where the emergency vehicles had converged.
Problem: it's a pretty major street and no crosswalks neaby. So for several minutes I was across the street, watching them packing him up onto a backboard and onto the gurney and cars kept coming and coming and coming and let me tell you guys, those were some pretty ASS minutes. I started crying out of stress and frustration. I think some of the cars finally noticed that I was, literally, hopping up and down and crying across the street from the ambulance, made the connection, and stopped to let me by.
I ran up and told them that was my partner on the stretcher and they let me into the ambulance. From the partner's point of view I apparently just *materialized* there; like I said, I don't think he realized I was anywhere nearby. Then hospital, xrays, scans, pills, and bottom line is the partner didn't break anything but did get a pretty good hit and scrape; he was pretty sore for a good while and we're still working out some of the injuries that he may have gotten or exacerbated with that.
So, partner scuffed up but ultimately okay. What about the bike? Which is, for us, a serious and moderately expensive piece of essential transportation equipment, i.e. not an optional recreational luxury? Well.
Since he was hit right outside the navy medical center — like just feet outside their entrance — the military folks actually got involved too and there was a bit of jurisdiction confusion over whether this was the navy's territory or the local county police, but we ended up with the county police in the end.
The corporal who had come out to deal with the crash got into the ambulance before it left to talk to me and partner, take down partner's info, etc. We clearly remember him talking about what to do with the bike: it couldn't fit in the ambulance, so he said — and both the partner and me (who was not crash-dazed) remember this clearly — that he would take the bike on the base and we could call him later to get it back, and/or I could come on base and get it (since I have a government badge).
After the partner was well enough to go to work, he called the corporal, who was busy. Then called back later. And again, and tried some more, and always he was busy. Several times a day, several days a week, and could never get anything — he left messages, asked when would be a good time to reach him, etc. Finally we decided to just go to the base Monday morning.
And were told that the navy had nothing to do with the bike and never did. The corporal who handled the crash didn't show up (but was supposedly on the phone with the people we did talk to), but his CO did. And the CO told us the corporal had told him the very day of the crash that he had nothing to do with the bike, it wasn't the navy's jurisdiction, etc. So they had no idea what happened to our bike.
Now, I understand that (a) the CO was covering for/backing his people, and that (b) jurisdictional issues, especially between fed and local forces, can be super tricky.
But I still feel like we were lied to and generally treated poorly here. We swear, he told us he would take care of the bike. We were so glad at the time, one thing we didn't have to worry about while we made sure partner was okay.
So. I'm pretty upset. There went several hundred dollars (right when we are trying to move and change jobs, so thanks for adding to our financial anxiety!), half of our household's modes of transport, and a whole lot of spoons. Thanks. Thanks, guys.
But wait. It gets better.
I was feeling lazy/tired/not-great that morning, and decided to bus; his bike route and my bus route are the same until about halfway to the respective destinations, after which it splits. Nearing the end of that convergence, he was crossing the driveway of the navy medical center when a car turned left onto the driveway off the street and hit him. He says the car mostly got the bike, which flew out from under him while he rolled over the hood of the car and then fell off onto his back. He says it was a pretty low-speed collision and most of the damage came from the ground, not the car. Some nearby construction workers called the accident in immediately and as this was right outside a huge medical complex, an ambulance arrived very quickly.
Meanwhile, I'm on the bus, also approaching the end of the converged routes. I hear some sirens. My phone rings. Partner tells me he got hit and they're putting him in the ambulance on a backboard and everything just in case.
Internet, let me tell you: the moment I realized the ambulance sirens I was hearing were for him was pretty great. By which I mean jesus christ.
I tried to tell him that I was right nearby and could come with him, but I don't think (having just been hit by a car) he was understanding me too great, as he kept saying I should go to work and he would keep me posted and I was like, uh, yeah, no, fuck that. By truly amazing coincidence the bus was just a stop or two away at that point, so I got the hell off the bus right across the street from where the emergency vehicles had converged.
Problem: it's a pretty major street and no crosswalks neaby. So for several minutes I was across the street, watching them packing him up onto a backboard and onto the gurney and cars kept coming and coming and coming and let me tell you guys, those were some pretty ASS minutes. I started crying out of stress and frustration. I think some of the cars finally noticed that I was, literally, hopping up and down and crying across the street from the ambulance, made the connection, and stopped to let me by.
I ran up and told them that was my partner on the stretcher and they let me into the ambulance. From the partner's point of view I apparently just *materialized* there; like I said, I don't think he realized I was anywhere nearby. Then hospital, xrays, scans, pills, and bottom line is the partner didn't break anything but did get a pretty good hit and scrape; he was pretty sore for a good while and we're still working out some of the injuries that he may have gotten or exacerbated with that.
So, partner scuffed up but ultimately okay. What about the bike? Which is, for us, a serious and moderately expensive piece of essential transportation equipment, i.e. not an optional recreational luxury? Well.
Since he was hit right outside the navy medical center — like just feet outside their entrance — the military folks actually got involved too and there was a bit of jurisdiction confusion over whether this was the navy's territory or the local county police, but we ended up with the county police in the end.
The corporal who had come out to deal with the crash got into the ambulance before it left to talk to me and partner, take down partner's info, etc. We clearly remember him talking about what to do with the bike: it couldn't fit in the ambulance, so he said — and both the partner and me (who was not crash-dazed) remember this clearly — that he would take the bike on the base and we could call him later to get it back, and/or I could come on base and get it (since I have a government badge).
After the partner was well enough to go to work, he called the corporal, who was busy. Then called back later. And again, and tried some more, and always he was busy. Several times a day, several days a week, and could never get anything — he left messages, asked when would be a good time to reach him, etc. Finally we decided to just go to the base Monday morning.
And were told that the navy had nothing to do with the bike and never did. The corporal who handled the crash didn't show up (but was supposedly on the phone with the people we did talk to), but his CO did. And the CO told us the corporal had told him the very day of the crash that he had nothing to do with the bike, it wasn't the navy's jurisdiction, etc. So they had no idea what happened to our bike.
Now, I understand that (a) the CO was covering for/backing his people, and that (b) jurisdictional issues, especially between fed and local forces, can be super tricky.
But I still feel like we were lied to and generally treated poorly here. We swear, he told us he would take care of the bike. We were so glad at the time, one thing we didn't have to worry about while we made sure partner was okay.
So. I'm pretty upset. There went several hundred dollars (right when we are trying to move and change jobs, so thanks for adding to our financial anxiety!), half of our household's modes of transport, and a whole lot of spoons. Thanks. Thanks, guys.
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Yeah, partner is doing all right... he was feeling pretty bad for a while after the crash, and like I said there are still some outstanding issues (lower back and knee problems), but not nearly as bad as it could have been =\
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Very glad your partner wasn't hurt too severely, though--bike vs. car always has the potential to end all kinds of badly.
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Yeah, the crash was extremely scary. It basically ended in the best way possible, even with whatever's going on with his back and knees right now. Since the impact was on his spine, that could have gone really badly :(