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Shopping cart damage to car - I saw the guy hurl the cart

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smedleyk

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Maryland
Ok, here's what happened just yesterday. I was sitting in my car waiting for my wife to grab some groceries in the Giant store. I was parked at the curb just outside the door.
A guy comes out of the store with groceries in his cart.
He pulled his grocery bags out of the cart, put them on the ground.
Then he pushed his cart toward the stack of carts from a distance.
You know how carts interlock when you slam the front of one into the back of the other?
It seemed like he expected that to happen.
After he hurled the cart he then ignored it while he tended to his groceries
The cart bounced back from the stack rather than engaging
It turned downhill toward my car and the curb - going really slow
It slowly started rolling toward my car
I shouted to him to come keep it from hitting my car
He did finally rush toward the moving cart
But it was too late
The front 2 wheels of the cart dropped off the curb
And the top front edge of the cart hit my car
The guy withdrew to where his groceries were, with the cart
I got out of my car and inspected the impact spot
At that point the guy just acted like he couldnt see me or hear me - it was strange.
There was a scratch and a dent where the cart hit my car
I asked him if he could see what he did to my car
He ignored me as if I wasn’t there and as if nothing had happened - staring into the distance.
I said his cart hit my car and it scratched it
He (strangely) said “THIS is my cart” (the one he pulled back from my car)
I said “don’t you care that you just damaged my car”
He responded “what do you want me to do?”
I said “I want you to give me your name and your insurance info”
He said “I won’t do that”
I said, “then I’ll get your tag number, I’ll call the police and sue you”
He replied something like “that’s fine”
So I followed him to his car and wrote down his tag number and called the police
About 20 min later an officer arrived
I told him what happened and gave him the tag number and model/color of car
The officer told me this was not a crime but a civil matter
I said I had no way of taking civil action without the guy's contact info
So officer radioed for the subject’s name, address and phone number, and gave to me on a slip of paper.
I asked officer if he would witness the after-the-fact situation, namely the location of the scratch and dent and it’s orientation relative to where a cart would slip off the curb and hit my car.
He said he could not do that, and he believed that my car was hit by a cart
--> So now I know the guys name and phone number etc. I'm inclined to take him to small claims and sue him for damages.
--> Question - do I have a chance? Is the law on my side here?
By the way, the only witnesses were my 10 year old daughter and 3 year old son who were sitting in the back seat.
 


Gail in Georgia

Senior Member
Sounds like you were illegally parked in the fire lane.

Funny; I've always wanted to hurl my grocery cart at the folks parked there too.

Deliberately.

Especially the folks who park right in front of the drop off from the sidewalk to the parking lot so I can't get my fully loaded grocery cart off the sidewalk without tipping it over.
 

>Charlotte<

Lurker
I'm a little disturbed that all you have to do to get someone's contact information is give a police officer a tag number and point to a dent on your car.
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
Sure, sue him. Or report it to your insurance, use your comp coverage (which will not affect your rates) and let THEM try to sue him.
 

las365

Senior Member
This is the second or third (or more) post that I have seen this weekend that appears to be written in some sort of unusual free verse. Is it a new, poetic style of posting that I am unfamiliar with? Or a glitch of the system? What do y'all think?

I'm inspired. I am seriously considering giving all of my responses in haiku for a while.
 

TheGeekess

Keeper of the Kraken
This is the second or third (or more) post that I have seen this weekend that appears to be written in some sort of unusual free verse. Is it a new, poetic style of posting that I am unfamiliar with? Or a glitch of the system? What do y'all think?

I'm inspired. I am seriously considering giving all of my responses in haiku for a while.
The structure of the haiku is first line: five syllables; second line: seven syllables; third line: five syllables. Good luck. :p
 
The police now give out personal info

as I understand this, I can call the police, point to my car, say this is the tag number that did it, can I have his home address. So what if that was my tag number and this person is totally delusional, comes or my house and stabs me. Good thing my car is registered at my ex wifes house
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
I can look up tag numbers online for MD at work. I wouldn't necessarily provide the address to my insured, but I can get it and use it to attempt to collect from them. I can get their insurance information too, but that takes a little longer.
 

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