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I was @ Sifu Starr's Yili seminar yesterday, and I told this story. He said I should put it up here, so I figured what the heck. It is also coming close to the 5 yr anniversay of this incident, so why not.
On July 3rd 2003, my wife (girlfriend at that time) and I were leaving San-Mai after a good day of training. I was taking her home to her parents house, and then planning to go home and get some rest before the big day. I always have some sort of big party at my cabin on July 4th.
I was in possession of my dad's 85 Pontiac Fiero at the time as my truck was in the shop having some repair work done on it. We were travelling on the interstate when we suffered a breakdown. I'm not really a grease monkey, so I'm pretty lost when it comes to cars. I pulled off to the side of the road, and called my parents for a ride.
Ali and I waited for over an hour for my parents when we finally decided to just walk. Her parent's only lived about 2 miles from where we were, and we didn't feel safe sitting on the side of the road like that. We knew we were stuck in a spot that was kind of dangerous.
I grabbed the door handle to get out of the car, but something stopped me. I thought to myself that I should grab my belt before I get out. The belt, being on the floor of the passenger side, was a bit of a reach. So, I twisted in my seat, and reached for my belt.
At that same instant, there was a sudden impact on my side of the car. I remember shutting my eyes and yelling when glass and metal shot up my back. I opened my eyes to see Ali looking at me. Apparently, she'd been asking me if I was ok, but I didn't really hear her. I checked her over to make sure she was ok. I looked out the front and saw a large SUV sliding down the interstate on a broken axle before coming to rest.
I jumped out of the car (only half noticing there was no door for me to open anymore), and I took off at a sprint towards the SUV which had stopped about 100 yards or so from where it struck us. I was on the phone with the police dept as I approached, and saw the driver kneeling on the side of the road. He was very obviously drunk as a skunk and he begged me not to call the cops.
A few nice people stopped to see if we were ok, and if we needed any assisstance. Ali called her parents to tell them what happened, and my parents showed up not too long after the accident. During all that commotion, the driver of the other car made a run for it. By the time I noticed him he was pretty far, so I called the cops again to let them know that he was fleeing the scene. I really wanted to chase him down and drop him with a flying side kick. That would've looked really bad on the police report though, and since I was actually in the middle of the interview process for becoming a cop I didn't want to blow my already slim chances.
Cops came, and went. They did end up catching him. My wife and I almost fainted when we actually took a look at what was left of the car. We were both lucky to have gotten away with cuts and bruises (then again we both have some spinal issues from it all still). If he come around any quicker, or if I hadn't reached for my black belt I wouldn't be sitting here now. Many of us have had to use our training in the real world for protection, but who ever think that piece of cloth would actually save my life.
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