Suspect Fleas Accident

A Reese Library staff member witnessed an unusual series of events following a car accident in Lot 2 on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011.

Outreach assistant, Matthew Whittington, told campus public safety he was walking back toward the library around11:15 a.m., from Washington Hall, when he heard a crunch; “the un-mistakable sound of someone’s truck getting hit.”

The truck, a silver Toyota Tacoma, belonging to a faculty member, was hit a by a female student in her red 2007 Chevy Impala while attempting to pull out her parking space. According to police reports, the student, in this case driver No. 1, had missjudged the distances between the two vehicles, due to the presence of another vehicle attempting to acquire the space.

Whittington said the accident seemed minor and he assumed that the student would take the appropriate actions of reporting it.

“She finished backing out and sits right there, for probably, the ever-popular minute,” he said. “She just sat there. I’m thinking she is going to get out of the car and leave a note or call public safety or something for the poor art professor, I assume.”

After staying stopped by the accident, the driver pulled off in the direction of Washington Hall.
Whittington said she turned left at the proceeding stop sign, and took the bend in front of the Testing and Disabilities Center, coming out on Taylor Street adjacent to Lot 1.

“I thought she was leaving the accident,” Whittington said.

He was wrong.

The student turned back around in Lot 1 and made her way back to the accident, and according to Whittington was on her cell phone.

Whittington thought it unusual that she never got out of the car the first time, but was even more surprised to see her double-back and do nothing again.

“I guess she was surveying the damage because then after, she heads out again, this time taking a right (in the direction of public safety) and I lost her,” he said.

Before losing her entirely, Whittington was able to catch a partial of the license plate number (BMJ), which he relayed to Public Safety as soon as he got back to the library.

“Our guys having, even a partial, was key in finding her vehicle,” said Jasper Cooke, director of Public Safety. “They were able to locate the car, sometime after, in Lot 23.”

Because she was parked in Lot 23- the lot in the shaded area to the back of human resources, near Washington Hall- Cooke strongly believed that, even though the girl showed nervousness, she was just looking for another place to park.

When Whittington came back out to the scene with public safety to make his statement, a gold colored car approached the scene and from the passenger’s side the female student walked out slowly toward the officers, and admitted she had done it.

The way the law reads for traffic accidents in the state of Georgia, two interpretations apply: First, police cannot charge for leaving the scene of a crime for anything less than significant injury or damage; in this case since there was only scraps and minor damage to the front quarter panel, there is no charge. Secondly, names of the parties involved are unable to be released until lawyers are notified and insurance companies are taking action, in fear that lawyers will come knocking at the door of agencies for a first-call at the parties.

“Sure, it would have been better for her to leave a note,” Cooke said, “Leaving the scene is not that significant in this case. Traffic crashes are guarded in this sense. The only thing that she might get is wrath from insurance, and based on the way she handled it, questions of integrity.”

Both parties have since claimed their reports, according to Cooke, so it is just a matter of time until they are made available to the public.

Provided By: The Bell Ringer
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