A Mercury Grand Marquis was recently abandoned in a rush-hour lane less than a mile from the White House and directly in front of the Djibouti Embassy. Amazingly, it took a week to tow. Abandonation without representation?
The silver Mercury sat in a traffic lane on 15th Street NW near M Street for a week. It held little besides a sheaf of papers and an empty packet of cigarettes. Drivers parked around it, backing into the space it blocked, and snow was cleared from its flanks.
Oddly, the owner's identity was obvious to anyone who cared to look — the dashboard held an Army base pass carrying the name of a man identified as an "international student." A writer for the Washington Post investigated the matter, got ahold of the man, and discovered that the car was stolen. It was towed shortly after the writer notified D.C. authories, who had no real answer as to why it wasn't moved sooner.
Also, yes, we know "abandonation" isn't a word. We like it anyway. We also have a strange love for Ford's Panther platform and the Grand Marquis, and we take every non-reportage opportunity to refer to the latter as "Big Marcus." We like to think of it as a kindly, slow-witted version of Chef from South Park. ("Why you wanna go and towwwwwww me, chilllldren?")
Photo Credit: Washington Post Photo