2 students wanted me to be a witness to an accident I did not see

[snugglegirl05]

This happened yesterday.

I was sitting inside the Visitor parking booth when a female student walked up to the booth window. My thoughts are in italics. Here is what happened.

me: "Hi"
first female student: "I go to school here, & my mom & I were involved in an accident at the metered lot. There were no witnesses, but my mom would feel more comfortable if someone could be a witness. Could you be a witness?
me: *So you want me to be a witness to an accident I did not see. Your mother is a witness. Why on earth are you doing this?*
"Sorry, I cannot do that. You need to go to campus police about this."
first female:"Yeah...but....my mom does not want to go to the police"
me: *not my problem*: "Sorry, I cannot help you. You need to go to campus police."
first female: "You cannot be a witness for me!!?"
me: "Sorry, but I am a contract employee, & my employer does not want me to get involved with anything at the client site."

She gets the message, & she calls someone. She stays at the Visitor parking booth. I wanted her to leave.

The second female student arrives. Here is what happened.

second female student: "Hi, we were in an accident. It was very minor. I just backed into her car. No visible scratches. We just need a witness. We do not want to go to campus police."
All said to me in way that conveyed *you have to do this*

me: "Sorry, but I am a contract employee, & my employer does not want me to get involved with anything at the client site."

She gets the message, & the two of them exchange information. They finally leave.



I wonder if it was a scam

[Eisa]

You could have said that of course you would be, and then make it all their fault...

Seriously, why would you ask someone who didn't even SEE what happened to be a witness?

[South Texan]

After scratching my head over this for a few minutes, I only can come up with the explanation for her request as being she wanted you to see the damage to the other car, and be able to testify as to how "minor" it might have been. Of course, that is what cameras are for, but that would require logic and thought on her part.

Otherwise, anything you might state that you saw regarding the accident immediately would be called into question due to your being on duty at a parking garage at the time, hence not in the vicinity of where this parking lot is located. The conclusion therefore would be you either were lying or shirking your job. Neither would be helpful to her.

Nah, silly me. She couldn't have been thinking things through that much.

[Bright_Star]

Wouldn't asking you to be a witness to something you didn't see be grounds for fraud?

[South Texan]

Wouldn't asking you to be a witness to something you didn't see be grounds for fraud?

It also could end up being a felony commonly known as perjury.

[EvilEmpryss]

I'm thinking CYA: Just call the Campus police and let them know that an unidentified student informed you about a fender bender yesterday. This way, if the owner of the other car goes looking for who dinged their car, they'll at least know when it happened.

The whole thing sounds fishy to me. This friend just shows up and claims that *she* hit the first girl's car? Since it sounds like the first girl was trying to get a friend to pretend to be the owner of the other car, and that could mean insurance fraud. . . even little dings and scrapes can be expensive to repair. Since it doesn't sound like the first girl actually called the owner of the other car or wait for the owner to show up, I'm betting she didn't leave insurance info, either.

[bainsidhe]

I'm thinking someone didn't have insurance.

[Zellie Crescent]

That was my first thought.

[Sheldonrs]

Maybe they watched "Minority Report" too many times.

[LillFilly]

Yep, I can smell the fish from here!

[taxguykarl]

My question is why didn't they want to report this accident to the police? Most insurers would refuse to pay a claim without a police report.

[Andara Bledin]

They likely planned to handle it either outside of insurance, or not at all.

I know that my mother had a car that was badly made, so the air damp on the front would fall off. She ignored it until after the car was in an accident with notable damage to the front end, and just tossed that in with the rest of it.

^-.-^