I am a locksmith who had a job at an apartment complex to unlock a car. When arriving at the only entrance to the complex I called the customer. He happened to be 20 yards ahead of me and waved me down. There was a maintenance man who switches the auto/sliding gate off during the day and on at night. He just so happen to be switching the gate on when I arrived where I stopped for a second in the path of the gate. When he switched it on he must have thought the gate would not to close when a vehicle is parked in the path of the sensor. The gate had a 3" bolt sticking out that secures the chain to the frame of the gate. When the gate started to shut I moved my natural reaction was to move and trip the sensor. The gate did not retract and chewed a gash from the front of the sliding door all the way to the wheel-well of my 2011 Chevy Express van. There are 4 witnesses to the accident that heard the gate damaging my van, and witnessed the maintenance man say he turned it on. He did not speak English very well but another person who speaks English and Spanish was translating that he made a mistake by turning it on. He walked off and the person translating told me his first name and apartment number where he lives.
I called the cops (because it's common knowledge you are suppose to report an auto accident). I sat there for 2 1/2 frikin hours and a cop finally calls me and tells me there's nothing he can do since it's not a crime and it happened on private property.
So please help me understand this.. There's damage to a vehicle. There's insurance on both sides that will be involved. There's 4 witnesses that saw most or all of it. I know the guy on the phone did because he was looking right at me when the gate closed. 5 people (including me) heard him say he turned the gate on.. and the cops won't get involved? Has anyone heard of this? I thought all auto accidents needed a police reports for insurance reasons?
I'm not sure if this is even worth perusing especially if the cops won't make a report. I swear I think they try to get out of making reports any way they can. They LOVE to say thing are a civil matter and there's nothing they can do.
I also took pictures of the gate, the gate opener in relation to where my van was (so he can't say that he did not see me), the damage to my van. Pics of the customers apartment so it would be known that is the likely place they would be parked in case there's doubts. While waiting for an officer I asked a person waiting for someone to open the gate if he would wait until the gate started to close and trip the sensor to see if the gate was functioning properly. I recorded that and it shows it worked properly and retracts back to the open position when the sensor is tripped.
I called the cops (because it's common knowledge you are suppose to report an auto accident). I sat there for 2 1/2 frikin hours and a cop finally calls me and tells me there's nothing he can do since it's not a crime and it happened on private property.
So please help me understand this.. There's damage to a vehicle. There's insurance on both sides that will be involved. There's 4 witnesses that saw most or all of it. I know the guy on the phone did because he was looking right at me when the gate closed. 5 people (including me) heard him say he turned the gate on.. and the cops won't get involved? Has anyone heard of this? I thought all auto accidents needed a police reports for insurance reasons?
I'm not sure if this is even worth perusing especially if the cops won't make a report. I swear I think they try to get out of making reports any way they can. They LOVE to say thing are a civil matter and there's nothing they can do.
I also took pictures of the gate, the gate opener in relation to where my van was (so he can't say that he did not see me), the damage to my van. Pics of the customers apartment so it would be known that is the likely place they would be parked in case there's doubts. While waiting for an officer I asked a person waiting for someone to open the gate if he would wait until the gate started to close and trip the sensor to see if the gate was functioning properly. I recorded that and it shows it worked properly and retracts back to the open position when the sensor is tripped.
Last edited:
