Surrounded by a huge crowd after an accident; This is what happened!

The only thing I’m sure I did right was installing that dashcam! Without this it could have been much worse.

BHPian ashwinikalantri recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Our family took a road trip on the Konkan Coastal Route this Diwali. The kids had a blast, my wife is already looking forward to another road trip, and Hedo, our Golden, loves the rides and beaches. This was an amazing experience, but that story is for another day. This is my reflection on the accident we had the last day.

About 30 km from Jalna, MH, while we were passing through this village of Shahpur, a young guy (probably without a license and underage) with a passenger on a bicycle tried to cross the road in front of us. His judgments failed him, as did our luck. Even though it was broken, we couldn’t avoid it. Fortunately, no one suffered serious injuries. I quickly made sure the boys were okay. This wouldn’t make a traffic cop blink an eye, just an everyday accident.

But this situation escalated quite quickly. In no time we were surrounded by a huge crowd. Some of them were sensible and supportive. Some were just there to observe. A few were malicious.

The older lady (? mother) tried to hit me while holding my collar and kept banging on the car demanding ‘justice’. An older man lay down in front of our car and prevented us from leaving when the others asked us to. The boy himself, who initially seemed ashamed of what had happened, had found his inner kid and started threatening us.

The sarpanch and others request the family to let us go

We had the entire incident recorded on a dashcam and to our relief the consensus among the crowd was that the boy was guilty. The sarpanch and some men tried to explain this to the boys’ family. But now there were monetary demands. Annoyed, we called 112. The local police called us back and asked us to come to the station to file a complaint! We had to explain our situation and why we need their help to ensure the safety of our children so that he agreed to come on site.

At that point I started to fear that this situation would only escalate further. We were aware that the police could be another source of harassment. Traveling with children (one of whom was now starting to cry) and our pet pushed me further to just leave. We threw away all the money we had with us and left.

Here’s what I think I did wrong, or could have done differently.

1. Waiting too long on site. I just couldn’t bring myself to leave without making sure no one got hurt. But after making sure the boy was okay, I should have left the place. Maybe inform the police about the incident.
2. I got out of the car a few times, which in retrospect was a bad idea.

The only thing I’m sure I did right was installing that dashcam! Without this it could have been much worse.

I want to understand what to do in such situations? How helpful are the police in such a situation?

The full dashcam footage:
https://youtu.be/SNThSX5M6YY

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