Hit and Run, May 7, Eastbound Ben White Frontage Road

Eastbound Ben White Blvd near James Casey, Austin TX

Description

I’m trying to reach the guy who hit my car last Saturday, May 7, at 5 pm on the eastbound frontage road of Ben White. This is the longest of long shots, but I figure it can’t hurt to try. You: twenty-something, male, dark, short hair. I want to say you were wearing a baseball cap, but that might be a little too on the nose. You were driving a large dark vehicle – I think a black SUV. You had a passenger with you. Me: underpaid state employee, 50-something stepmom struggling to stay afloat in ever-more-expensive Austin, driving a silver Hyundai Elantra, headed home. I had just taken the First Street exit and was passing the St. David’s medical complex when you rolled through/ran the stop sign at James Casey and the eastbound frontage road of Ben White and hit my car. You got out of your car on the side of the frontage road, came over to mine, and asked if I was OK. I said I thought so. Travis County EMS pulled up and asked if I needed medical attention. While I was talking to them, I saw you get back in your car, pull onto the frontage road, then turn on to First and… keep going. Never circled back, never showed up during the two hours I spent waiting for a tow in that sketchy 7-11 parking lot at First and Ben White. Your big ass vehicle crumpled my passenger side fender and shattered my headlight, blew my tire and damaged my wheel, tore up my bumper, scratched my door, and even scooched my hood a fraction of an inch over. I don’t know yet whether there’s suspension damage, but it seems possible. While the EMS driver behind you confirmed that I’m not at fault, neither he nor I got your license plate. I’m probably going to end up paying at least a couple of thousand in repairs, thanks to my deductible. This is money I don’t have (see: underpaid state employee). It’s a proportionately huge financial hit for me. But it doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to be the jerk who smashed up a nice lady’s car and took off. You can be the guy who was distracted leaving a hospital parking lot and who maybe meant to stop but didn’t. Or something. Anyway, I may be hazy on the details of the incident, but -you- know who you are, you know where you were, and you know what you did. Get in touch with me and let’s work out how you can make this right.