Last night I was helping another officer on an accident scene. A vehicle had driven off the roadway into a ditch, and the driver got out and left the scene. I was there to help direct traffic because the accident was in a blind curve. When the tow truck arrived, the driver parked it diagonally across the road. There was about half of a lane open in front of the truck, so we were watching the wrecker driver do his work. While the wrecker driver was underneath the wrecked car trying to hook it to his truck, a Mini Cooper came down the wrong side of the road from behind us. I saw the headlights reflect off of the truck, so I turned in time to see the Cooper attempt to go around the front of the truck. He didn’t make it.

He almost made it past the truck. The truck’s door was open, because the driver has to get in and out to adjust the throttle for various reasons. The Cooper’s passenger side mirror was the first thing to come into contact with the truck’s door. The driver continued to drive until the truck’s door dug into the right rear quarter panel of the Cooper. He said he didn’t see that the door was open.

Since my partner worked the first accident, I volunteered to work the new one. Moral of the story: when there are two police cars with flashing blue lights, and one tow truck with flashing amber lights parked diagonally across the road, don’t try to go around or do anything unless instructed to do so.