To think it was not an overreaction to call the police?

[hottubwhocares]

We were out today at a family event. We were parked up in the car park of the venue and were getting in our cars to travel home. There was a man parked next to us in the (relatively narrow) bays, window down, chatting to his girlfriend. He was there when we came out and approached our car.

DD age 8 was getting into the back passenger side of our car, so on the same side as his car. I was on the other/driver’s side. As I was getting in, I heard DD start to scream. Basically the man next to us had started to move his car forward and his back wheel had run over the back of her ankle/foot.

I immediately ran round the back of the car, picked her up, helped her into the back seat and took her shoe and sock off to have a look. The top layer of skin had come off and it looked bruised so I went round to his car, said sorry, I think you have hurt her so I am going to need your details.

He and his girlfriend then said ‘Why? I haven’t done anything wrong’. I asked if he was refusing and he said he ‘didn’t even know what happened’ and started mouthing off.

So, I called 999 and of course the second he heard I was on the phone to the police, he started offering his details.

Two police cars then attended. DH is furious with me and says I completely overreacted as DD’s injury was minor (scrapes and bruises) and I ‘see the worst in everyone’. I am very upset about his lack of support when our child was hurt and upset.

FWIW I would never move my own car when a child was down the side and if I had ever done anything like this I certainly wouldn’t be mouthing off at the parent of the injured child!

So, was it an overreaction to call the police?

They are completely separate call operators 🙄 you literally get directed to the appropriate call station. The police handlers are completely separate from the ambulance service and indeed the fire service!
so no ambulances would have been remotely impacted!

your being completely ridiculous!

If she thought he was drunk/high then absolutely but she didn’t have those concerns so when she rang 999 it was purely due to him not giving details hence why I don’t think it was the best way to report.

Not necessarily - in '78, I took a photo of some of my classmates posed around a car. Somehow, the car was nudged onto the foot of one of the teenagers. It went right over the foot, but the weight didn't break it.

This thread is actually insane. Do you all mean to tell me you'd be blasé if someone backed over your child's foot in a parking lot, refused to admit it happened, mouthed off and wouldn't give their details? And you're all also trained to recognise if bones have been broken? This place is a viper's nest.

But he may not have wanted to not give his details as he knew he had no licence/ no insurance/ was drunk or high.

Rubbish. No wonder kids today are so neurotic and have no resilience when parents make such a drama out of a non-event.

I would absolutely have called 999 in this scenario! There are some strange responses here. He ran someone over and was going to drive away!

Not quite sure what part of being run over by a car doesn't involve being hit by the car?

But top marks for splitting that hair so finely. Or is that too dramatic an analysis?

i still watch my 8y get in car in car parks especially if car next to us incase they hit door onto another car. As i had someone do that to me and it cost hundreds

Yes, IMHO it was an over-reaction to call 999. There was no emergency.

You should have taken a photo/note of his numberplate and vehicle description. Plus photos of how the cars were parked and where your daughter was standing. Then contact the local police station to report the incident, so you had a reference for any later injury claim. And documentary evidence of what happened.

But, if there was no damage to your car and your DD sustained only a superficial injury, there’d be nothing to claim.

Maybe think about how you spoke to the man. I know you were obviously shocked and worried about your DD being hurt and him being so unconcerned. But were you as polite and calm as possible. Or, if you’re honest with yourself, did you see the worst in him, rather than accepting it was a careless accident? Were you rude to him and that’s what got his back up?

But that’s not why she called and the question was if it was reasonable to call 999. She was taking to him through the window and has not mentioned once he seemed intoxicated so that is not why she called 999. We’re just entering made up circa now. Him having no insurance woupd have been picked up through the reg when she reported the matter later. I don’t understand why people are deviating to reasons for that aren’t what she describes.

You’re so right. Kids today lack a good running over to toughen them up…🙄

She was reporting him as he was about to do a hit and run!

And if the car wasn’t registered to him? Then what?

🤣 She wasn’t run over, she got scraped skin on her heel. Boo hoo

Yes, we must take great care to be polite and gracious to men no matter what.

Get an actual grip please.

Wow

Then The owner gets served not once to give details of who has the car at that time. Let me guess, ‘what if it was stolen?’ ‘What if…….’ Rather than just admit it wasn’t really a 999 matter.

Well, ofc I wasn’t there. But according to OP, the CCTV shows the car running over her foot, and she had to tug it out when he stopped.
Any body part driven over by a car, passes my threshold of being run over, but maybe I’m soft. What are we saying is the general rule? A whole leg? An arm? The body? The head?

But were you as polite and calm as possible.

WTAF

This thread is mad.

If the police have said it was a police matter then of course it was a police matter. I think you have a DH problem, sorry.

I was a call handler for 3 years and have been a police officer for 9 years - this is definitely a police matter and I would agree with those saying 999 was appropriate.
The force I did call handling for had a policy of not needing to attend if it was damage only unless details were not being exchanged or there was reason to believe another crime was involved (driving under the influence etc). Anything involving an injury, no matter how minor, was always sent over for attendance and usually for an immediate response.

With regards to 999 or 101, I'd say 999 was appropriate. There is a crime in progress as he's refusing to give details and a registration alone does not prove who was driving the car. OP could've taken the reg, called 101 while he drove off and then PNC could've shown that the car was stolen, the plate had been cloned, the "registered keeper" has told the DVLA they no longer own the vehicle and they don't have the current owners details etc. And even when he did start to give his details, OP had already called 999 (appropriately) so they would just carry on with the call and still send officers because someone has been injured (again, no matter how minor).

Why weren’t you helping her into the car?

When I was little, 6 maybe, I watched my beloved Nana get her finger slammed in the car door - it was traumatising, even though everyone tried to assure me she was fine.
I’m pretty sure getting your foot run over by some jackass who’s ready to run off is also traumatising and certainly deserves a call to 999 if only to stop him.
Sheezus people have gotten awful.

Fucking hell, of course it was a police matter.