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Dec 9, 2008 06:00 PM
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Remember the bewildering story of the smashed Honda Civic with an "AIDS note" in San Francisco? Turns out it was true. But there's more. Check out the back story and new pictures below.
To update you on the original story of the note claiming an AIDS-infected suicide jumper, let's start with the car owners. Seems the car is owned by couple Mark and Lina who have had one hell of a couple months, starting with the Honda getting broken into in September, a motorcycle getting stolen in October, the Civic getting crushed by a suicidal, drunken AIDS-infected naked guy and insurance covering none of it. The whole terrible story, along with the timeline are below the gallery.
Mark and Lina’s Story – A Bad Couple of MonthsTimeline:
September 13, 2008: Mark’s Honda Civic get broken into in Hayes Valley, San Francisco, and the same weekend, two upstairs apartment units get broken into through an open window.
October 10, 2008: Mark’s Triumph motorcycle gets stolen from Hayes and Buchanan.
October 24, 2008: License plates from said Triumph are recovered in Tenderloin, San Francisco by SFPD. Both the in the car pulled over by SFPD are on parole for auto theft and get arrested for possessing stolen motorcycle plates.
November 14, 2008: Mark’s Honda Civic gets crushed by a guy attempting suicide by jumping off the top of their building.
December 3, 2008: Triumph motorcycle is found by CHP in Hayward, completely trashed, being held together by bungee cords and is totally unsalvageable.
Lina’s statement:
“We’d had a couple of stressful months relative to cars and motorcycles, with the break-in of our car, the break-ins in our apartment building , and then Mark’s bike being stolen. Needless to say when we walked to our car to drive to a friend’s birthday dinner on Saturday the 14th, we thought someone was playing a joke on us. When we walked up, there was glass so far away from the car, we thought ‘Oh my God, did someone break into our car again? For what!? The stereo’s already gone!’
Getting closer, it looked like just a lot of glass. When we got to the car, we realized it wasn’t just a break-in – then we saw the hood and the now infamous note from our neighbor. We stood there in shock for a few minutes, and then a couple came out of 600 Fell St. and said ‘Holy crap dude, is this your car?” We just sort of nodded in silence.
The tenant went on to tell us what happened: The man on the 6th floor who jumped, and yes, who has AIDS, was not altogether sober, and this wasn’t the first time he’d attempted suicide. He had jumped off his 6th floor balcony (about 80 feet up) and went through the electrical wires, spraying sparks everywhere, and then landed on our car. The wires broke his initial fall, and then of course he hit the hood. And yes, he was naked. Supposedly, he got off the car by himself and pulled himself to the curb, then passed out. The last news we heard was that he’s in an induced coma.
So, about the notes: there were two on our car when we got there, one which was a police report with an incident number – I filled out the report and sent it in but haven’t heard back yet – and the other, hand-written one, was from our building manager. The car was left on the street from Saturday, when we found it, until Monday morning, when it was towed.
We had the car towed, got some estimates to fix it and of course the damage was way more than the value of the car. We talked to our insurance company, which wouldn’t cover anything. My husband didn’t have theft insurance on the motorcycle to boot, so we’re basically S.O.L.
We ended up calling our local news-talk radio station, KGO-AM, to speak with their on-air lawyer Len Tillem about our legal options. He said that Mark was out of luck unless our insurance covered people falling out of the sky (or something to that effect), that the building can’t be held liable and that our insurance policy doesn’t cover it. The guy who jumped, no one has been able to figure out whether he’s got insurance coverage, and he’s in a medically-induced coma with no family around.
To add insult to injury, when the CHP found the motorcyle, it was towed to a scrap yard in Hayward. It was a total wreck – looked like it had been dropped on either side, parts missing and other parts being held together by bungee cords, so obviously driving was out of the question, as was repairing it. So, we made the decision just to let it go. The real clincher was that we had to pay $370 for the towing fee, storage fee and disposal fee. It’d have been better for us if CHP just hadn’t found it!
So, that’s our story for all the people who’ve wanted some answers. We certainly feel terrible for the person who jumped off of their balcony, and all things considered, we’re blessed in our lives. Here’s hoping that Hayes Valley becomes more secure. We love the area, but the last couple of months have been trying to say the least!
(Thanks for the update Shane)
Send an email to Ben, the author of this post, at ben@jalopnik.com.
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
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