Crash

We can pretty much establish the fact that I am a giant magnet for the unique and peculiar, but while you probably reserved that thought to people, it goes the same for situations. I have a tendency to find myself in unbelievable scenarios that have absolutely nothing to do with me, but nonetheless, there I am in the midst of chaos. Well, this particular story highlights such a time where I was just merely minding my own business, but had I not of followed Waze Apps shortest route guidelines, I would have missed out on this frighteningly magical moment.

My good friend California Melissa (she’s California Melissa because we met in California and it’s important to differentiate her from my wife, who’s name also happens to be Melissa) and I went to the Staples Center in beautiful downtown Los Angeles to see the National Hockey League matchup of my hometown St. Louis Blues taking on the LA Kings. The game was every bit as riveting as could be expected. California Melissa was rooting hard for the Kings and I the Blues, but in the end, the Blues came out on top and put an end to the seven game winning streak the Kings had at home that particular season. As we left the Staples Center amongst a hoard of melancholy Kings fans, I assumed that we were leaving all the action behind on the ice, but as per usual, I would be very wrong and would soon be witnessing my assumptions crumbling before me.

California Melissa and I waited patiently in the underground parking garage near LA Live and the Staples Center allowing those in much more of a rush than we to exit before us. I typically do this at sporting events and concerts as I am rarely in a hurry and would rather sit motionless in my car than inch up in line. Once the crowd had cleared, we set Waze App (the absolute best mapping app out there – I would HIGHLY recommend it if you are not already using!) on course for home in Temecula and drove up out of the parking garage.

I have my Waze settings to always direct me on route with the shortest time. I don’t mind driving extra miles, just make sure I’m not driving extra minutes! This has caused Waze to steer me down roads that are well off the beaten path and as we drove down a handful of darkened blocks just beyond downtown Los Angeles, this appeared to be one of those said times.

As California Melissa and I sat in a left turn lane before a stop sign, a small pickup truck pulled up to our immediate right and was anxiously awaiting the chance to make that right turn. The road before us was without a traffic light and at this point in time was being frequently traveled making it impossible for either of us to make our desired turns.

As we anxiously awaited for a large enough gap in the traffic to make our move, we heard this vehicle barreling down the road, tires screeching and all. The fact that we were able to hear it so clearly with our windows rolled up, radio on, and over our talking tells you just how loud and rowdy this vehicle was being. With each passing second the noises were getting louder and louder and California Melissa and I both silenced ourselves and the radio and looked off to the right in anticipation of this vehicle coming our way.

We noticed that the younger couple in the small pickup truck next to us were watching eagerly too. There was this obtrusive three story building on the right street corner that was greatly blocking our line of vision, but within moments, this older styled car, rather lengthy in size mind you, came blasting down the street and at the last possible second decided to make a left turn in our very direction!

“OH SHIT!” I hollered as this car came flying towards us.

Thankfully, this crazed vehicle missed us, but they were traveling so rapidly and made their turn so abruptly that they went slamming into the seemingly abandoned three story building on the left side of the block.

California Melissa and I looked on in horror as their car crashed into the first story of the building sending glass and bricks in every which direction as they barreled through, only coming to a complete stop after several walls and pillars prohibited them from proceeding any further. This car had completely hollowed out a solid half of the first story and the damage only worsened as additional bricks and walls crumbled down from the crash.

The man in the pickup truck to the right of us had rolled his window down and was talking loudly in our direction, so California Melissa rolled her passenger side window down as well.

“We just called the police,” he called out to us. The dispatcher said they’ll have a unit here shortly. We told them someone might be hurt too, so they might need to send an ambul – OH SHIT! LOOK!”

The man in the pickup truck had cut himself off mid-sentence and for good reason. As he spoke to us he was staring in the direction of the wreck which enabled him to be the first to see one of the individuals emerging from within the beat up car.

This individual hoisted himself up through the sunroof and onto the roof of the car, pausing only slightly before leaping down and taking off in a sprint that rivaled that of an olympians. California Melissa and I repeatedly looked back and forth from the crumbling building with a new automotive centerpiece and each other with the widest eyes we could manage. The sight was absolutely unbelievable. When we looked back over at our fellow spectators in the pickup truck we could see his girl was on the phone talking frantically to whomever was on the other line.

“Look! There’s another guy!” Melissa hollered as I thrust my head back in the buildings direction.

A second man had gotten out of the car, only this time from the rear passengers side door. Luckily he was slender as that side of the car appeared to be pressed right up against a brick wall. No sooner had he got out of the car had he crawled up over the elongated trunk and slid right off the backend only to take off running in the same direction as his friend.

“Holy shit this is crazy!” I exclaimed nervously as my heart rate escalated and I watched more bricks crumble. The building had been completely decimated by this crash, so it was incredible to me to see these two escape the wreckage with barely a scratch.

“Thank goodness neither of them were hurt,” California Melissa said making me turn to look back at her while nodding in agreement. No sooner had I turned and faced her that I realized I needed to turn back around because the look of sheer terror that the pickup truck couple were now wearing told me something else was happening behind me.

I whipped my head around to see an all too familiar sight. A third man was crawling up out of the sunroof, but unlike his friends, this individual was quite a bit heavier and was not nearly as capable as the other two. Nevertheless, he persisted and after much trial and error was able to hoist himself up out of the sunroof and onto the roof of the car. Rather than leaping down like the first individual, this guy just rolled his body down the back windshield of the car and onto the trunk. He then tumbled off the trunk onto the rubbled floor, but appeared to be fine as he quickly got up on his feet and flashed us all a smile before jogging in the exact opposite direction of his friends. Where as they ran down the darkened block back towards where California Melissa and I had come from, this third guy jogged right out into the oncoming traffic of the street we had been waiting so patiently to turn on. I surely would have laughed had I not of been so stunned by what I was watching.

His unexpected entry into the road caused several vehicles to slam on their breaks and swerve slightly to ensure they missed hitting him, but his insertion into the traffic was the break the pickup truck couple needed and they were finally able to make their right turn. Within mere seconds they were completely out of sight.

“Dammit! We should have turned too!” I said frantically as my heart pounded hard against my chest. Although I felt perfectly safe, I was still reeling from the shock of the scene that unfolded before us. It was just like something out of the movies, only this was real life!

After roughly a minute, we were finally able to make our left turn and zip out of there. As we drove down the infinitely better lit street we could not stop talking about what we had just laid witness to.

“You think that was their car or they stole it?” I asked while still wearing my deer-in-the-headlights look.

“I was kind of thinking the same thing because they seemed pretty eager to leave it behind,” California Melissa answered.

“Who even knows!?! That was just insane! I cannot believe we just saw what we just saw! Unbelievable!” I was having a difficult time processing everything that had just gone down and despite the whole ordeal probably lasting only three minutes it seemed like time stood completely still during the chaos.

“Look, there’s some security officers!” California Melissa said as she pointed at a pair of men on Segways.

The light before us was turning red anyway, so I slowed down and pulled up to the curb where the officers stood. We rolled down the window and informed them of what had just happened a few blocks back and watched as they zoomed eagerly towards the wreckage. We knew the couple in the truck had already called the police, but it would have felt strange waiting at a red light ignoring those security patrolmen when we clearly knew of a location in need of their patrolling.

Once we performed our civic duty, we took off for the comforts of our suburban lives back in Temecula talking about the ordeal the whole way home. Leave it to me to spend ninety minutes talking about an event that was over and done with in three.

Well, as always, I hope you enjoyed my story and I thank you greatly for reading my blog! I shall return next week with another crazy post, but until then, I hope each and everyone of you is living your best life! Miss you all already!