Hit and run | Part 3

Hey there everyone! Today I’ll be sharing part 3, the final part of my story Hit and Run. If you haven’t already I highly recommend reading Part 1 and Part 2 before reading this post. That way you’re all caught up and it isn’t so confusing.

I couldn’t believe that they actually found the man that hit me with his car and sped away. I couldn’t believe that he went to jail because of me. The police had told us that not only was he in jail for a hit and run but he also had prior offenses like unpaid parking tickets and reckless driving.

I immediately got a lawyer. I’ve never had a lawyer before. I mean what kid just has a lawyer? There was so much happening at that time of my life but thankfully he was very friendly and he made things easier for me to understand since I was so young. It was still so much to take in though. There were so many other things I wanted to be involved in or focused on but couldn’t.

One day he called me into the office and I definitely wasn’t ready for what I was about to see. He told me that they had got every single angle of the accident on CCTV. Every. Single. Angle. He informed me that they would play this for everyone to see in court and would rather me see it now rather than seeing it for the first time with everyone else.

He turned his computer monitor around so that it was facing me, got up from his desk, and walked out of the room. He wanted to give me time. On the screen, there was 12-year-old me getting knocked out by a car from 13 different views. I thought to myself, this couldn’t be real. Oh, but it was. I started to tear up. I was reliving a nightmare.

I called for my lawyer and told him I’d had enough. He explained that he didn’t want me to be upset but that’s how it’s going to be the day of my court appearance. Another hard thing I’d have to go through was a deposition. A deposition is a process of giving sworn evidence. That’s the google definition but to me, it means being interrogated by the other person’s lawyer. I went in a couple of times to prepare for the deposition but nothing could compare to the real thing. It was so uncomfortable. I’m happy I had my mom in the room but she wasn’t able to help me speak or say anything at all. I just wanted it to be over. Obviously, the other lawyers are in favor of the man who hit me so they were asking things in ways that tried to make it seem like everything is my fault. I tried to think about what I practiced and what words or phrases to stay away from but I just kept drawing blanks. At the end of the in-office deposition, my lawyer still told me I did I great job.

The court date…

It was a Wednesday. This was a big day for me. I even got to skip a whole day of school. My friends and teachers wished me so much luck the day before which meant so much to me. I went to court that morning with my mom and grandma who also came for extra moral support. While we waited for the doors to open we had to go through security. The scanned us up and down and we walked through a metal detector. We also happened to meet this sweet older man who kept flirting with my widowed grandma. She didn’t know it was flirting but my mom and I sure did. It was kind of cute to see someone interested in my grandma and to make her laugh. It was like she was in high school again.

Since we got there a bit early we got to see a few other cases before mine. We went out into the hallway for a breather and that was when I heard the metal detector alarms go all the way off. We whipped our necks around to see what was going on. Big mistake. The man who had hit me was bold enough to come to court with a knife. 4 cops came to restrain him. While all this was happening he was giving me the death stare. The evil in his eyes was enough to make me cry. Did he have intentions of hurting me?

 

When it was time for my case they brought him back with cuffs and sat with him all the way in the back. I felt like he was watching me. The back of my head was burning from how badly he was staring. I turned my neck slowly so I could reassure myself I wasn’t crazy and I wasn’t. His eyes were locked on me so hard. He was looking at me with malice in his eyes. I began to tear up again. At least he was restrained so he couldn’t actually hurt me. To this day I can still see those evil eyes in my head. He told everyone in the court that I ruined his life.

As a result of the accident, I was left with 4 broken disks in my back. I had a torn meniscus in my left knee. I also suffered from TMJ which stands for Temporomandibular joint dysfunction. I was really sore for a few days after but then real pain started to kick in. I started physical therapy and was seen every week for quite a while. My life was put on hold. I was always going in for MRIs and Xrays. I even had to go in and get fitted for mouth guards that I had to wear both day and night.

I couldn’t eat some of my favorite things at the time like bagels or gum! I loved to chew gum in school even though you weren’t allowed (Now that I think about it… why is it anyone’s business if you chew gum or not). I wasn’t able to participate in most physical activities either. I just didn’t feel like a child.

Lawsuits can go on for years and years. I know that because mine did. I got hit when I was 12 years old and it didn’t conclude until I was nearly 18 years old. I ended up settling because I wanted to be able to live my life in high school. I wanted to do all of the things a young lady should do.

Here I am today 11 years later able to tell the story with confidence. Although I do still have some pains (which will probably last a lifetime) I still manage to be myself. I pretty much fought through it all. They wanted me to have surgeries on my knee but my mom did not consent. She said I was too young. I made it work though. With many many many late nights at physical therapy, I was able to gain back all of my strength. Well, this concludes the story of the time a man hit me with his car and left. 

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As always, thanks so much for reading! Questions, comments, and feedback are always welcome. If you enjoyed this post, please comment, like and share! Make sure to check out my Instagram; @tianiangela_ and my latest video on Youtube💋