When you park your car on the street in the middle of the afternoon, you assume it will be safe. Someone might decide to smash your window and snatch your bag, which happened to me. (Hope you enjoyed that empty laptop bag, thief!) Or, somebody might accidentally bang into your car, then try to speed away before anyone notices. Either way, you'll probably have to pay for the damage, if it's below your insurance deductible.
Andrew Sipowicz of Buffalo, New York, found himself in this crappy situation, but got saved from a surprising source. When walked out to his red Ford Mustang, he saw the front corner was crumpled, damaged from an apparent hit-and-run. Initially, he was in a panic, thinking he'd have to fork over serious money for repairs. Then he noticed a handwritten note attached to the car, that explained the nasty dent.
The note read, "If you wondering what happen to your car. Bus: 449 hit your car It stops here everyday to drop me off. At 5:00pm. What happened? She was trying to pull off and hit the car. She hit and run. She tried to tear over and squeeze threw but couldn’t. She actually squeezed threw. She made a dent and I saw what happened. -Sorry -Driver seat left door -A lady in the bus driver seat 499. -Buffalo Public School bus -A 6th grader at Houghten Academy"
That's right, a sixth-grade student got off the bus, witnessed the hit-and-run accident and wrote an elaborate note. It included all the pertinent information, plus a hilarious illustration of "the bus that hit your car." (In the windows, the students can be seen screaming for help.) Sipowicz tweeted a photo of the damage and the note, writing, "Shoutout to the anonymous 6th grader for saving me a couple thousand (Bus not drawn to scale)"
The tweet went viral, as everyone was impressed with the sixth-grader's honesty. And illustration. As one person eloquently put it, "Dammnnn this mf picasso." High praise!
After the story became nations news, the bus company First Student issued a statement:
"Yesterday, when we were made aware of the incident we jumped into action. The First Student team met the owner of the sedan to review the damage and initiate our insurance process. We will cover the full cost of the repair to his vehicle as well as a loaner while his car is in the shop. The actions of our former driver are completely contrary to First Student’s training and what we stand for as a company. We have initiated the process to terminate the driver.
We would be remiss if we didn’t mention that we are very impressed by this exceptional sixth grader. We commend her for her actions."
WGRZ reports that a teacher at Houghton Academy immediately recognized the sixth-grader's handwriting, and knew who was the student was. "I have been in contact with that teacher this morning," said Sipowicz, "and we're trying to set up something so I can go thank the student in person. I think it takes a special person to be able to do something like this…who felt like they had to do the right thing and I'm very grateful for that." Indeed. Good job, kid!
