Tsa`ah
06-14-2007, 04:45 PM
I was just getting back into bed around 3 this morning when my night auditor calls to inform me that someone just ran into the hotel with a red SUV and then took off.
Fuck.
I couldn't get much out of him due to his attention being divided between customers, police, and myself ... I've got no clue how severe it is or if anyone is hurt. So I'm throwing on clothes on my way to the car.
I get there as the police are leaving, the locals don't even look at me, but the county guys hands me his card and says he'll keep an eye out ... like there's anything they can do. I catch a customer still at the desk who happened to see it, but he can't tell me anything other than it was a red SUV, my auditor didn't actually see it happen.
Out back, where it happened, the AC unit in the path of the vehicle is demolished, as is all the shrubbery in the way. The vehicle hit the building ... the big fucking red brick building ... hard enough to dislodge, and push in about 4 inches, a large section of the wall. Luckily they struck a portion of the building that didn't house customer ready rooms. Inside a drain pipe bent and broke at the threads joining it to another pipe, the plaster and dry wall buckled ... I'm just thinking in terms of dollars and it doesn't look pretty.
The only thing left of the vehicle that hit my building would be bits of grill and broken lamps. A piece of grill molding looks like a jeep cherokee. What really fucking baffles me is the presence of 15 ft of lawn and shrubbery from the building to the 6 inch curb ... and the other 20 ft of distance to the closest sidewalk to an entrance or parking space. How in the fuck do you "accidently" hit a building with that much of a buffer space?
So an hour late I'm about ready to call it a night/morning. Since this is going to be a case where the insurance company is involved, I tell the auditor to write up a detailed statement and all that jazz .... when I notice a red Jeep Cherokee pull into the lot across from the main entrance.
I wait at the front desk as 3 people get out of the jeep and enter the building and head straight for the elevator. They're not talking or looking around ... heads down, straight to the elevator.
As soon as the doors to the elevator shut, my auditor is handing me a folio page, so he was thinking the same thing. Their room doesn't look over the north lot so I run out to the jeep and sure enough ...fucked up front end. I run through the hotel and out the back to grab some suv pieces littering the ground ... and sure enough ... the first 2 large pieces I make a comparison with are exact matches along the broken edges.
So we call the police, I'm in the back office pulling up interior security footage when my auditor runs in and tells me the jeep is gone ... but someone is still in the room.
Fuck.
Just as I'm about to give it up, the same three people that emptied out of the jeep step off the elevator with a white foam cooler and a bundle of t-shirts and head straight for the rear exit.
So maybe they can still be nailed ... my guy is calling 911 at that point, I'm running to my car and manage to hit the west drive before the red Jeep can make the turn, so I've got them blocked in and I sit there waiting to see if they're going to try and go around me or start shooting.
The person driving is a younger woman, she leans out and yells something and waves her arms. The two passengers, younger guys are just sitting there with there heads down. I get out and walk up to the woman to tell her she has to stay put until police arrive.
She bursts into a torrent of Spanish, her arms going faster than her mouth. When there's a pause, I tell her again ... "you have to wait until the police get here" and then I add "you hit my fucking hotel with your Jeep and ran off" while pointing at the smashed ac, butchered shrubs, and big fucking dent in my building.
What does this have to do with having a consulate ID and being considered "legal" within this country?
It boils down to apathetic law enforcement. They couldn't explain how they managed to drive over the curb, through shrubbery, 15 feet of lawn and an ac unit to hit the building. They couldn't offer an explanation of why they took off and drove around for an hour. They couldn't provide an address or telephone number of residency outside of the Mexican Consulate in Chicago. They couldn't provide any ID outside of the piece of shit the consulate gave them. No visa, nothing to prove they were here legally. The biggest joke ... they were ticketed for failure to report an accident, driving without a license and driving without insurance ... and were sent on their marry little way.
What the fuck.
What did they do after being ticketed? They wanted back into the room they rented. I had to catch the local before he chased after the other local speeding back to his coffee and donuts ... just to get these pieces of shit off my property before I was cuffed for assault.
I'm looking at the second police report when I remembered the county cop's card in my pocket ... and it has a cell phone number on it.
So I give it a call and explain everything to the county cop ... his exact reaction was "What the fuck?!". He tells me that he's patrolling 57 heading north and about 3 miles from the closest exit to the hotel ... if he catches sight of them he'll do what he can.
Well he got them right as they were pulling onto the interstate heading back to Chicago apparently. He nailed them for insurance, license, busted headlight, corner lamps ... and gave the driver a field sobriety test which he, apparently she didn't feel like driving into buildings any more, failed. Since he couldn't detect alcohol, he gave the other two sobriety runs ... that they failed as well.
This is what the county cop told me over the phone 2 hours later as the three of them were being processed.
They were illegal.
The three of them collectively have 5 prior DUIs, 2 involving property damage.
A search of the vehicle produced a small variety of illegal substances
They have records spanning the course of 4 years (traffic).
Illegals flashing Consulate IDs normally get off the hook, or at least ticketed and released.
The Consulates know exactly how many IDs they have issued to illegals, but they won't release that information and there's nothing we can do about it.
So 3 border jumpers come into this country, rack up DUIs along with a long list of other traffic violations, and it takes a third incident of property damage BEFORE they are cuffed and jailed? I have absolutely no legal recourse, neither does my insurance company ... who will jack my premiums after this.
Had I made it policy to refuse service to anyone unable to produce a valid state issued ID, well I would have all sorts of organizations trying to crawl up my ass and bleed me dry. It's like refusing a room to a 17 year old with a keg on his shoulder. Sure I could, but the moment he kills himself or someone else while driving drunk, I get taken to court for liability.
Shit like this makes me want to liquidate and live in a fucking cave for the rest of my life.
Fuck.
I couldn't get much out of him due to his attention being divided between customers, police, and myself ... I've got no clue how severe it is or if anyone is hurt. So I'm throwing on clothes on my way to the car.
I get there as the police are leaving, the locals don't even look at me, but the county guys hands me his card and says he'll keep an eye out ... like there's anything they can do. I catch a customer still at the desk who happened to see it, but he can't tell me anything other than it was a red SUV, my auditor didn't actually see it happen.
Out back, where it happened, the AC unit in the path of the vehicle is demolished, as is all the shrubbery in the way. The vehicle hit the building ... the big fucking red brick building ... hard enough to dislodge, and push in about 4 inches, a large section of the wall. Luckily they struck a portion of the building that didn't house customer ready rooms. Inside a drain pipe bent and broke at the threads joining it to another pipe, the plaster and dry wall buckled ... I'm just thinking in terms of dollars and it doesn't look pretty.
The only thing left of the vehicle that hit my building would be bits of grill and broken lamps. A piece of grill molding looks like a jeep cherokee. What really fucking baffles me is the presence of 15 ft of lawn and shrubbery from the building to the 6 inch curb ... and the other 20 ft of distance to the closest sidewalk to an entrance or parking space. How in the fuck do you "accidently" hit a building with that much of a buffer space?
So an hour late I'm about ready to call it a night/morning. Since this is going to be a case where the insurance company is involved, I tell the auditor to write up a detailed statement and all that jazz .... when I notice a red Jeep Cherokee pull into the lot across from the main entrance.
I wait at the front desk as 3 people get out of the jeep and enter the building and head straight for the elevator. They're not talking or looking around ... heads down, straight to the elevator.
As soon as the doors to the elevator shut, my auditor is handing me a folio page, so he was thinking the same thing. Their room doesn't look over the north lot so I run out to the jeep and sure enough ...fucked up front end. I run through the hotel and out the back to grab some suv pieces littering the ground ... and sure enough ... the first 2 large pieces I make a comparison with are exact matches along the broken edges.
So we call the police, I'm in the back office pulling up interior security footage when my auditor runs in and tells me the jeep is gone ... but someone is still in the room.
Fuck.
Just as I'm about to give it up, the same three people that emptied out of the jeep step off the elevator with a white foam cooler and a bundle of t-shirts and head straight for the rear exit.
So maybe they can still be nailed ... my guy is calling 911 at that point, I'm running to my car and manage to hit the west drive before the red Jeep can make the turn, so I've got them blocked in and I sit there waiting to see if they're going to try and go around me or start shooting.
The person driving is a younger woman, she leans out and yells something and waves her arms. The two passengers, younger guys are just sitting there with there heads down. I get out and walk up to the woman to tell her she has to stay put until police arrive.
She bursts into a torrent of Spanish, her arms going faster than her mouth. When there's a pause, I tell her again ... "you have to wait until the police get here" and then I add "you hit my fucking hotel with your Jeep and ran off" while pointing at the smashed ac, butchered shrubs, and big fucking dent in my building.
What does this have to do with having a consulate ID and being considered "legal" within this country?
It boils down to apathetic law enforcement. They couldn't explain how they managed to drive over the curb, through shrubbery, 15 feet of lawn and an ac unit to hit the building. They couldn't offer an explanation of why they took off and drove around for an hour. They couldn't provide an address or telephone number of residency outside of the Mexican Consulate in Chicago. They couldn't provide any ID outside of the piece of shit the consulate gave them. No visa, nothing to prove they were here legally. The biggest joke ... they were ticketed for failure to report an accident, driving without a license and driving without insurance ... and were sent on their marry little way.
What the fuck.
What did they do after being ticketed? They wanted back into the room they rented. I had to catch the local before he chased after the other local speeding back to his coffee and donuts ... just to get these pieces of shit off my property before I was cuffed for assault.
I'm looking at the second police report when I remembered the county cop's card in my pocket ... and it has a cell phone number on it.
So I give it a call and explain everything to the county cop ... his exact reaction was "What the fuck?!". He tells me that he's patrolling 57 heading north and about 3 miles from the closest exit to the hotel ... if he catches sight of them he'll do what he can.
Well he got them right as they were pulling onto the interstate heading back to Chicago apparently. He nailed them for insurance, license, busted headlight, corner lamps ... and gave the driver a field sobriety test which he, apparently she didn't feel like driving into buildings any more, failed. Since he couldn't detect alcohol, he gave the other two sobriety runs ... that they failed as well.
This is what the county cop told me over the phone 2 hours later as the three of them were being processed.
They were illegal.
The three of them collectively have 5 prior DUIs, 2 involving property damage.
A search of the vehicle produced a small variety of illegal substances
They have records spanning the course of 4 years (traffic).
Illegals flashing Consulate IDs normally get off the hook, or at least ticketed and released.
The Consulates know exactly how many IDs they have issued to illegals, but they won't release that information and there's nothing we can do about it.
So 3 border jumpers come into this country, rack up DUIs along with a long list of other traffic violations, and it takes a third incident of property damage BEFORE they are cuffed and jailed? I have absolutely no legal recourse, neither does my insurance company ... who will jack my premiums after this.
Had I made it policy to refuse service to anyone unable to produce a valid state issued ID, well I would have all sorts of organizations trying to crawl up my ass and bleed me dry. It's like refusing a room to a 17 year old with a keg on his shoulder. Sure I could, but the moment he kills himself or someone else while driving drunk, I get taken to court for liability.
Shit like this makes me want to liquidate and live in a fucking cave for the rest of my life.