Paradise Driver

At about 1:15am this morning I made a pickup at a local nightclub. Two "local" ladies wanted to leave the club but were being accosted by one of their boyfriends who was trying to instigate a fight. The ladies got into my cab and then the guy tried to force them to get out. I locked the doors and windows and left the club. He jumped into a new Audi and pursued us.



He chased us down the road (some chase, I was only doing 30mph) trying to get me to stop. When that failed, he tried three times, unsuccessfully, to ram my cab. Unfortunately, he was successful on his fourth attempt. Hit me at a 45 degree angle at about 30mph.



Caved in the driver's door. Destroyed the left front and left rear quarter panels. Rang my "chimes". Then he and a buddy of his jumped out of their vehicle and tried to smash in the cabs windows and force open the doors.



During this entire incident I was on the radio advising my co-drivers what was occurring and having them call 9-1-1. One of my other cabs arrived just as these two idiots got back in their car and raced away. He followed them while being in contact with the local police. The Audi was pretty badly damaged and was abandoned about 1/2 mile away when they fled on foot. The girlfriend (ex?) was able to tell the police who the driver was and where he lived. Neither of my passengers was hurt, just "shook up". I am a little tender at the moment and will see how I feel when I wakeup (hopefully ) later today.



My cab (a 1998 Ford Crown Victoria) has about $5,000 worth of damage but is driveable (though not usable). They will probably "total" the Audi. His right front wheel was torn from the suspension.



The police are going to pursue this as an ADW (assault with a deadly weapon) rather than a traffic accident.



I'll keep you advised.



And it started out as such a good night.