Car Accident and New Car

While driving home from work on Friday, July 1, I was struck by a drunk driver who ran a red light at the intersection of Georgia Ave and Dennis Ave. My knee hit something and I had some scrapes and bruises in other areas. The ambulance came and I went in the ambulance to have them take a look at my knee. I was very shaky and couldn't focus either.

I was lucky I wasn't going faster or the other driver would have hit me in the door.

There were several witnesses to the accident. One of the witnesses was an off-duty State Trooper. The State Trooper took the other driver's licence and also my licence and gave them to the Police when they arrived. Another of the witnesses was the Sales Manager that I work with at JC Penney. She was a bit behind me so she stopped and stayed with me throughout the ordeal and took me home. She was also the one who carted me back and forth to work everyday. Another witness was also a JC Penney employee. She is a new associate that works in my department at work. She had the evening off and was going out with some friends.

When the Police arrived, I was still in the ambulance. When I got out of the ambulance, one officer came up and handed me my driver's licence and told me that the other driver was drunk and that they would be arresting him. The other officer came and gave me a case number. The tow trucks came and loaded up the cars and gave me their card. The Sales Manager gave me a ride home. The whole incident took less than an hour.

I took these pictures the night of the accident, before they put my car onto the tow truck.

This was my knee when I got home.

Its about the size of a melon.

Hard to see but bruising on other leg and arm.

There was also bruising on my stomach and a bit on my chest as well from the seat belt.

Since it was a holiday weekend, not a whole lot happened. We did file a claim with the insurance company so that they could get the ball rolling. They told me that I had $2500 in personal injury coverage. So they would pay for lost wages as well as doctor bills. I called out on Saturday because I was afraid to over do it and I was pretty sore. Sunday we decided to go to the doctor to see if anything was broken. The doctor took X-rays and nothing was broken. They recommended elevating it with ice and she also gave me two prescriptions for pain medication. After walking to the bus stop and the hospital, my knee hurt really bad Sunday night so I took the Fourth off too. I took pain meds and slept most of the day. We did watch Fireworks from our balcony that night.

On Tuesday, I went back to work and my car finally got to the body shop. They called me around lunch time and asked me to bring them my keys. I got one of my co-workers to give me a ride over and I took these pictures.

Front of the car

Passenger side

Driver's side

Drivers door

Bumper in the backseat.

On Friday, July 8th, they called us and told us the car had been totaled and they would pay it off as well. They also told us they would be cutting us a check because the car was worth more than we owed. I worked the weekend and my first day off was Thursday, July 14th. We headed to the Rockville Car max and I test drove a 2010 Honda Civic. The price was a little more than we initially wanted to spend but we knew we had been pre-approved with a low interest rate. I wasn't in love with Civic and I really wanted another Nissan. We looked online and there was a brand new red Nissan Sentra SR in Baltimore. We were looking for ways to get to Baltimore and Jon's co-worker Zhe offered us her car so we could get to Baltimore. On Friday, July 15th, two weeks after the accident, Jon picked me up from work in Zhe's car and we drove to White Marsh. I took the Nissan Sentra for a test drive and I knew I wanted it. So We were approved for an even lower interest rate and put money from the insurance company down as a down payment. My car had 12 miles on it as I drove it away from the lot (by the time I got home it had 60).