No Justice in Chesapeake

I know I've written a lot about the shortcomings of the Chesapeake Police Department but this one is a must. Early this morning (1 AM) my girlfriend was involved in a car accident on Dominion Blvd. She was traveling South when the bridge opened. She stopped and waited. When the bridge opened, he Blazer failed to start. She put her flashers on and waited inside her car with her seatbelt on, just as she should do. She called her mom to come help her. She then called me and talked to me for 8 minutes. In these 8 minutes, she described her situation. Her battery was dieing. Her lights were dim but still blinking. She was in the middle of the Southbound lane, a couple of hundred feet North of the bridge. She tells me of the dozens of car that pass her on the left (through the oncoming lane) and on the right (through the grass). As they pass they blare their horns, as if they believe that shes stopped for fun. At the end of the eight minutes, I hear her say "Oh my God, this guys not going to stop! Oh my God! Oh my God!" She screams. I hear the buttons on the phone get pressed and the call is ended. Of course, I hop in my car back in Norfolk and fly to see what has happened. I continue to try her phone and on the second or third try, her mom answers and say, "Shes been hit," and hangs up. I am at the scene in under 10 minutes, where I find a totaled Blazer approximately 60 feet from where it broke down. I also find a totaled Escalade. My girlfriend is taken by ambulance to Chesapeake General (where she is discharged 5 hours later with a minor concussion). After she is taken away, her mom goes with her and I remain to take some pictures and find out where the car will be towed. Upon my inspection, the Escalade only left about 30 ft of skid marks. The Blazer was about 2 feet shorter than it was supposed to be. Her mom saw the entire accident. The driver of the Escalade claimed he couldn't see her because her lights were off.
Here's the part that gets good. 200 ft or less from the draw bridge. The bridge tender never came out to help. The police responded to make a report. The officer never took a statement from my girlfriend or her mom, but only from the driver of the Escalade. The area is lit with her Blazer originally in between 2 street lights. Now, although the Escalade had to have been traveling at 60 mph and it rear-ended the Blazer with barely a slowdown, the officer stated to me that he doesn't "want to get involved with this," and that he will "let the insurance companies hash it out." WHAT ARE THEY PAID TO DO?! HE DOESNT WANT TO GET INVOLVED? THAT HIS JOB!
Chesapeake needs a fix. Their law enforcement system is so screwed up, they need someone to provide oversight. If they don't want citizens to try, let the state police or the US Department of Justice do it. This is ridiculous. That was the absolute WORST investigation that I have ever seen.

NO TICKET WAS ISSUED TO THE DRIVER OF THE ESCALADE


UPDATE - Monday, March 17, 2008: We got the police report. The cop says the estimated speed of the Escalade was 50 mph! The speed limit is 45 there, by the way, even though he had to have been going much faster. The coop also acknowledged that the street was lit by streetlights. (REMEMBER HE DID NOT WRITE A TICKET) This guy could not see an SUV in the light even with his headlights?! Its scary that these people are on the road. Whats worse is I looked up his driving record online. My God! Did the cop not check this. The guy has a pending 75/55 ticket and a no license in possession ticket. He has at least 5 other moving violations... IN THE PAST 2 YEARS! Last thing: the cop said on the report that she should have put flares out. ... He's joking right? DMV tells you to stay in your vehicle with your belt on when you break down. Its on the insurance card too. this cop thinks that it would have been safer for her to get out and put down flares. No, then she would be dead. It was all of 16 minutes since she broke down to when she was hit.