Parking Lot Scammer in Andover

Have you ever been scammed in a parking lot? 

I NEVER have been until today.  I really still can't believe this insane lady was screaming in a parking lot of Whole Foods, stating that I hit her car.

Huh?  I never felt that I hit anything.  I was careful.  I use all the mirrors on my truck.  No Way.  I didn't hit her.

I did hear a horn tooting after I had pulled out of the spot that I was parked in.  Never felt any contact with another object, definitely not a car or mini van as is the case here.

Here's how the scene played out.

My mom was with me, I suggested she stay in the truck and listen to her music.  She loves her little Sony mp3 player. 

I get the few things that I had run out of and would need to make dinner.  I check out at the register, have the bagger use my reusable shopping bags and I'm on my merry way.

I load up the truck with my few bags and return the cart to the front of the store.  After all, I wouldn't want to be an asshole and have it hit someone's car or block a good parking spot.  It's the decent thing to do, to return ones cart... so I did.

My mom was sitting happily, listening to her music with her little plugs in her ears.  I look in all my mirrors, turn and check to make sure no one is walking behind me or worse, pulling out behind me.  Coast was clear.

I slowly back my Tacoma pickup (similar to the one shown above) out of the spot that I had been parked.  I hear tooting, after I'm already out of the spot, stopped and turning my wheel to move forward.

All of a sudden, this blonde woman with a beat up mini-van jumps out of her van screaming.  She was screaming about someone hitting her car.  I knew it wasn't me, I didn't feel any impact.  I drove off.

I had to circle the lot to get to the exit and I see the woman pointing at me and screaming that I hit her.  A crowd was forming.  Her beat up minivan was left in the middle of the lot, blocking traffic... I thought to myself, "Oh boy, we have a real live asshole here."

I rolled down my window and she yelled at me, "You HIT ME!"

I yelled back, "No, it wasn't me.  I didn't hit you."

Not trusting this woman, I drove back around to see where she claimed I had hit her.  From across the parking lot I did see a big dent (shown up above in the mini-van example photo) which she was attempting to make me and everyone else believe was damage that my truck had caused.

I looked at where the dent was... looked at my truck and said, "I'm sorry, there's no way I could have caused this damage.  First, the dent is too low and secondly, this is an old dent, look at the embedded dirt."

The woman kept screaming ... 'You HIT MY CAR!  I WAS TOOTING AND TOOTING AND YOU IGNORED ME."

I appologized and again said, "I didn't hit you."

In comes a police cruiser.  YAY!

I was so relieved to see a cop.  A woman cop, even better.

The woman starts screaming at the cop that I hit her... the cop said, "Look, you don't want me to get out of this car."

I said, "Officer, No, I don't want you to get out of the car but there's no way I could have caused the damage she is claiming.  I drive a pick up truck... that one over there."  I pointed to my beautiful white and shiny truck with NO dents and absolutely no scratches.

The cop said.  "Just pass papers."

I said, "But officer, I didn't hit her car.  It's impossible."

The cop got out of the car.

SHIT! I thought to myself.  I can't be pulled in to the station, my mom is in the car... she has dementia for God's sake.

I said to the cop, "I have my mom in the car.  She has dementia.  She would have felt the bump if I hit anything and would have made me stop if I did hit something.  I couldn't have hit her."

The cop asked me where I was parked.  I pointed to the spot.  She looked at where the woman was parked in the middle of the lot and said, "THERE"S NO WAY she hit you!"

The screaming blonde foreigner in the beat up minivan began arguing with the cop.  I stood still with my mouth shut.  The cop was looking at the old dent, like I was and the screaming lady immediately said, "Oh, that's an old dent.... she hit me down here."

That's the 2nd X in the minivan picture, LOWER than the original dent.  There is NO POSSIBLE WAY my truck could have scratched her bumper, not that low to the ground.  If I hit her, I would have maybe hit where the old dent was, not where she was trying to tell the cop and me... way down below my bumper... I smelled something fishy.

The cop, she was suspicious of this woman too. 

The policewoman kept saying to the woman, "There is no way she hit you."  The woman insisted.  The cop turned to me and said, "Oh, just go.  There's no way you hit her."

I asked the officer for her name just in case the scam lady tried to claim that I was involved in a hit and run with her... "Office Cataldo"  She said as we both got into our vehicles and drove away.

So... be careful of parking lot scammers who try to blame you for old dents and scratches.