Post-Script On The Guy Who Left His Car On Our Brick Wall

Yesterday I posted about the guy who drove his Lexis onto our brick wall and then left it there.  I assumed he had been drinking. I assumed we would never see him again. And, as suggested by another participant at the training here, I assumed the police would soon be getting a call about a stolen car. This led me to speculate about the guy’s criminal liability.

My 15-year-old son called last night to let me know that the guy had in fact returned to our house the next day. The guy was in his late 20’s, my son said, and for the most part he just seemed embarrassed. He was not a neighbor, as I had assumed, but lived 20 miles away in Ashburn. I have no idea what brought him to our neighborhood on the night of the accident.

It must have been difficult for the guy to come to our house, my son said. My son was dismayed that his grandmother had been rude to him. The guy just wanted to give us his insurance information.  Which he did after being thoroughly chewed out by my mother-in-law.

Don’t worry, I told my son. I will call the guy when I return. I will thank him for taking responsibility and I will apologize to him for my mother-in-law’s behavior. Hearing this seemed to make my son feel better.

My son is about to get his learner’s permit, and he has obviously been thinking about these things. I’m sure this gave him special empathy for the guy, who had most likely been drinking. I am glad that my son is compassionate.  He has always been that way. But it’s probably also about time I had that conversation with him about drinking-and-driving. Much easier that than the one about the birds and the bees.