Accidents Happen

Once as a young police officer I got a call of a burglar alarm at a shoe store downtown.  This was during winter, and it had snowed a foot or so with a layer of ice underneath.  I pulled up along the side of the building where the alarm was going off.  I was very careful, not pulling headfirst into the marked, metered spaces, because I was not sure I would be able to back out from a downward incline.  Instead I parked parallel to the curb and proceeded toward the alarm.  Thirty or so minutes later I headed back to my car after the call was over.  False alarm, as many of them tended to be, and just a few hours from the end of shift.  As I put the car in drive and hit the gas, nothing happened.  I couldn't get traction.  Inexperienced in the snow, especially as a driver (having been born in CA and spending most winters there), I pressed the accelerator of my squad car a bit harder and it came alive.....except that the only part that came alive was the rear end, which shot out to the side as it hit ice beneath the snow.  The driver's side rear quarter wrapped itself around the nearest parking meter, causing parts and pieces of the car to go every which way.  I had never been in a wreck.  I had worked plenty of them, but had never actually been in one.  I did what any 19 year old would do in that situation.  I burst into tears.  After a minute I pulled myself together and called for a supervisor.  Of course, it was a slow day and instead of just coming on over, my Sergeant wanted to chat.  On the radio.  For everyone to hear.  He said, "Whatcha got?"  and me, trying to remain calm and professional, "10-50" (Ten code for accident).  Sarge (knowing if I was calling a supervisor to an accident scene, that I was probably involved) said, "What'd ya hit?"  Me (losing it now and trying not to cry) "a paaaaaaaarking meeeeeeeter" wahhhhhh.  So embarrassing.  So now, I know that most everyone on duty is on their way to see the little police girl and what kind of damage she has done.  I looked around wanting to melt into the snow, and I noticed that a large piece of my rear fender had hit the meter with enough force to be thrown about 40 or 50 feet away from my car.  Yikes.  I did not want anyone to think I had been so careless as to hit with that much momentum, I ran down and picked up the piece and tried to just toss it nonchalantly amongst the closer pieces.  By the time the sergeant and most of the rest of the shift got to my location, I had gathered my thoughts (and car parts) and was trying to really shrug it off.  That is until one of the guys followed my footprints (in that foot deep snowfall) to where the large broken car piece had originally been laying----  He looked at the evidence, looked at me, looked at how close I was to tears again and probably thought "this just ain't worth it" and didn't say a word.