My son was going to turn 17 in less than 12 hours. I'd had the Camry totally repainted metallic flake green; it looked better than new. I parked on California Boulevard, where it runs through the Caltech campus, and ran in to the Math department for a while. When I got back, I found the car totalled, rear-ended at maybe 50 or 60 mph, accordoned, windshields shattered. Took almost 3 days to get the poilice report. 81-year-old had blasted through stop signs, red lights, done major damage to 3 cars, mine the worst. Had hypoglycemic shock, caused (he admitted) because he took the medication without an accompanying meal. Eyewitness followed him as he made an illegal U-turn, ran some more red lights and stop signs. She stayed until the Pasadena Police Department arrived.

They asked about the accident. "What accident?" he asked. "I don't remember any acident." Cops pointed out the 1-inch gash on his forehead, 1/2 inch on a cheek, the split lip, all bleeding profusely. "Did I hit a pole?" he asked.

On the 5th trip to the police station, I brought my wife, as she technically owns the car, to demand they press criminal charges (hit-and-run). They refused. I investigated. Turns out he's the City Manager and also the City Attorney of a nearby city. And I thought nobody was above the law. Guess Bush-ism is catching. And I guess that I wasn't paranoid enough.