Brooke The Jailbird

[benna2]

Today I was driving home on the way from dropping some friends off for their surfing lesson. I was fully stopped, about to make a left hand turn, signal on to indicate my turn. There was a lot of traffic coming on the opposite side of the road, so I was stopped for a good minute. Then I hear a BANG. BUMP. I looked over my shoulder and saw two dominicans and a motorcycle laying on the side of the road. The guy drove right into me, not paying any attention to the fact that a HUGE car was in his way.

Out of nowhere, there is about ten other motorcycles all parked around my car, so that I couldn't go anywhere. I finally told them to get the fuck out of the way so I don't get slammed into by another car! I pulled into my driveway and they surrounded me again so I couldn't go anywhere. I got on the phone with my guy Mike, who speaks Spanish. He told me to just sit tight and he would be there in a minute. I knew it wasn't my fault, but the way things work down here, is that no matter what...the white person pays. Basically they were going to make it my fault instead of the dumbass who drove into me.

Mike came and got into it with the guys who were on the bike and they started demanding that I pay them money because I crashed into them. I told Mike to tell them to stop lying because they knew what happened. But still because I don't speak the language and I am white it still ended up being my fault.

I called another friend Marco who has lived here for close to 18 years and owns a business here. He came to help as well, along with a police friend of his. We all were made to go to the police station to give our statements.

I had to work and was going to be late so I phoned work and told them I would get there as soon as I could. That's when the police told me that I wasn't actually able to leave. I asked if I was being arrested and Marco told me it was more like I was being "detained"....Marco convinced the police to let them release me into his custody, but I had to stay with him at his restaurant until they figured out how much I owed the mother fuckers. I was still rather confused about how I owed them money...but whatever.

The police told me that I could fight it in court but it was going to end up costing me a lot more in lawyer fees and because I am not dominican, chances are the judge would not side with me anyway.

Hours after the whole situation, I was told by the police that I had to pay their medical bills as well as pay them off. The grand total for this whole fucking fiasco...
6500 pesos. Which is about $200. It isn't even the money that has pissed me off so much. Had I caused the accident, I would have had no problem paying. It's that this criminal asshole just saw me as a walking ATM and wanted to get me for whatever he could. Whatever...hope he enjoys the beer he is going to buy this weekend with the money I gave him.

So I paid the police my money to give to the assholes, they told me I was free to go and I went to work. My bosses were great and didn't care that I was late at all because they knew the whole story by this time. Word travels fast in this town! By the end of the week, I'm sure they will be saying I hit and killed the guys. Kinda wish he hit his head a bit harder!

Anyway...so there goes my eating money for the month! Shit happens. Everyone is teasing me now though about being detained by the police.

Bad luck has been following me this week....Hopefully it is done now.

[florencia9699]

That REALLY sucks!!
When I lived in Syria, a guy collapsed into our brand new car while it was parked!!!!!! Needless to say that guy didnt want to pay us cause we had UN plates and he figured the UN would pay us... of course he was so afraid of getting into trouble with the government over this that he wound up paying us, but he never payed the family who he drove his gigantic car into their kitchen... really really unfair...

Even though travelling and living abroad has it's great parts... the down sides sometimes make you miss home even more that you'd expect... but well... look at the bright side... your luck can only go up from here!!!

[space virgin]

Fucking douchebags. I'm sorry, babe. I'm sure I have no concept of the currency value but $200 doesn't seem too bad... right?? Regardless, yeah, it sounds like your presence was a golden moment for those scumbags.

[kingcrazylegs]

there has to be some sort of mafia to contact to have this guy taken out

[thatgirlwholaughs]

haha, yeah, those dominicans. when i was working in antigua we rode in uber tinted diesel vans with dominican drivers. i specifically remember driving through some small town and watching some guy run his motorbike into our bus. i even have a picture somewhere in my mountain of pics . i seem to remember the driver getting out, jumping around arms flaying for a bit. after a few minutes, the motorbike guy kicks the bus/van thing and we drive off.

[expatben]

Aww, I'm sorry. Thats just aweful when something like that happens. At least you're not in jail though. Hopefuly this is the end of your bad luck.

[lauren313]

Aw, that's really awful! Hopefully you won't have any more run-ins with anyone!

[aliz]

we used to face this problem when my family lived in indonesia, the richer person always pays for damage, no matter what. we were always told to be careful of people trying to cause accidents when they needed a bit of extra cash

[florencia9699]

It's so strange to think that someone would just run into you (risking both your lives) just for money.
On the other side I'm glad that thought never had to cross our minds...

[MeTurk]

Don't they have rules of the road or anything?? In most countrys if you run into the back of someone it's your fault no matter what the circumstances. I would have lost it if the cops did that to me. Which proably wouldn't have helped any.

Bastards!

[SuDz]

At least you were able to stay with people who you knew and not hang out in some cell for a while if you were detained.

SuDZ

[bluepea]

Originally posted by MeTurk@May 30 2006, 05:47 AM
Don't they have rules of the road or anything?? In most countrys if you run into the back of someone it's your fault no matter what the circumstances. I would have lost it if the cops did that to me. Which proably wouldn't have helped any.

Bastards!

[snapback]123214[/snapback]

Technically yes, but "South American" (just a general reference to about every country/island south of the States) countries can be dirty in respect to some laws. As Brooke said, it's just easier/less costly to pay.

Anyhow, I'm sorry! That really sucks. What a bunch of ass goblins. :greenguy: I'd seek them out and purposely hit the guy.

[voyd]

Youch, that sux!!

But you know what they say about tha Dirty Souf:

Down south we bout
That dolla dolla
Grab a trick then hit and make em holla
Holla

Anyways, corruption is a BIG problem down there, amongst other things. No big secret there. But hopefully, they can move past that stage at some point...

At least on the bright side, $200 is not much by US standards for a car wreck (even though you should have been paid, not billed)!

[omisan]

Find out where these guys live, find their bikes, and use a turkey baster to drain the brake fluid. Replace the fluid with a little bit of soy sauce so they don't suspect anything. If they want accidents, oh, they'll have accidents!

[Sijuki]

That sucks... You should have sent them sleeping with the fishies.

Good idea Omi... give those rat bastards something that is coming to them, and true 'accident'. Hopefully its off a cliff.

We can be like the UN and raise the $200 to help Brooke out of her money woes! I have $5. Are there 39 more people out there?

[benna2]

Originally posted by Sijuki@May 30 2006, 04:23 PM
That sucks... You should have sent them sleeping with the fishies.*

Good idea Omi... give those rat bastards something that is coming to them, and true 'accident'.* Hopefully its off a cliff.

We can be like the UN and raise the $200 to help Brooke out of her money woes!* * I have $5.* Are there 39 more people out there?

[snapback]123332[/snapback]

Hey now you're talking! lol. Well I did make 8 dollars last night in tips. It was a dead night. So now we only need to raise....um, well with Sijuki's $5 donation, that is $13 raised so far.

[aliz]

I found $3.70 when I was looking for something under the counter at work today... a lot of people drop their change

[Sabrosa]

That totally sucks. I think the most disturbing thing about this is how many people were involved in helping him take advantage you. I guess this was predetermined? WTF? Wonder how often he and his friends do that......

[benna2]

The other moto-conchos that jumped to his defense were probably not even friends of his. They are just other guys defending their fellow "countryman"...Whenever there is an accident here, all the locals stop and stick their nose into it.

[benna2]

On another note, this girl that I have never met and doesn't know me left a comment on my myspace blog on this very topic.

entry and comment in question

My question to you, people that have the time to check her comment out...Do you feel like I am out of line on what I wrote? Is my anger not justified? Is she just speaking to hear her own voice? I do believe she has a valid arguement, but I just feel as though it is a little out of place coming from someone who doesn't know me.

Am I completely out of whack by expecting the police to protect me instead of the locals simply because I have more money than them? What does that teach these people? That it is ok to slam yourself into cars...or not even ok, it is GOOD and PROFITABLE to slam yourself into cars? I just do not see the logic here.

I realize that what I wrote was harsh, and coming from a little white girl, may be a little hard for an African American girl to take. But I still feel like she was being a bit judgemental...

Thoughts?