Around 1am Sunday morning, drivers passing 1st st N at 6th avenue would have come across an odd scene. At this address, an abandoned car parked on the sidewalk was angled into a flower planter and surrounded by squad cars. The car gave the impression of a hit-and-run accident. By the circustance of the driverless car in a collision-like stance, it seemed to be hit-and run, but on closer inspection, no collision had really taken place. It was reported that following the incident, the passenger(s) did leave the scene, but no further information was present, except that there was space between the bumper and the planter, and no damage to the car indicating a collision had occurred.

                After taking a few photos, I approached the police officer on scene with a simple question, “is this news?”  By this question, he seemed to understand what I meant. I was specifically wondering if this was an event that would likely be reported by the nature of what exactly had transpired. I liked how the officer responded to my query. He understood the curious nature of what had happened. When I put forth the idea that there was no reason to speculate about what had happened, he aknowleged a possible motive that would explain the abandoned car.  However, Under the circumstances, all the pd could do was issue a parking ticket and have the car towed. A simple parking ticket was certainly an element of the story that added to the oddity of the event and the peculiar nature of the circumstances. I had nearly come to the conclusion that I would release my photos as a potential news item.

          As I prepared to leave, suddenly the driver of the car returned to the scene. A lady related how she had lost the ability to steer the car, ended up on the sidewalk, then walked to the nearest place she could phone AAA to have the car towed. At this moment, I realized that indeed, an odd story this was, but apparently not news. The officer continued with some necessary questions of interest for the driver, who boldly answered candidly, but was not penalized further for her situation. Interestingly, I was impressed with the good humored position of the authorities in this situation to not make a big deal about the event.

A detail to note: The parking ticket tucked beneath the wiper blade.