Overkill

I pulled into my bank a few days ago and spotted the only available space in the parking lot.  At a glance I saw that the car next to the spot I had my eye on was too close to the building and in fact had humped over the retaining curb, gone over the space next to the walkway, and was tucked up against the building. I then saw that the lady driver (I had to mention that the driver was a woman) of the brand new Nissan was inspecting her car while she was on her cell phone. She had lightly bumped the building, which has just been totally renovated from the outside with plate glass, and two of the panes of glass, about 3 ft. square, were shattered. There was another person on his phone a few feet away and I surmised that everyone was OK except for the glass. A minor mishap, so I proceeded to do my banking. When I came out of the bank, it was like a terrorist attack had just taken place. The complete parking lot had been blocked off with emergency vehicles. There was a fire truck with four firemen in full gear, an ambulance with paramedics about to pull a stretcher from their vehicle, and four police cars, one of which was a ghost car. I stood beside my truck for a moment, surveying the situation, and could not help but burst out laughing. I then approached the policeman nearest the ghost car and asked him to kindly remove his car so I could back out and get on with my day.

I have witnessed overkill similar to this too often to think it is unusual. Is there no common sense left? Is all this equipment and manpower brought out just because it is there and can be used? Are these people bored? Did someone send in a false report of supposed mayhem? Really, all that was required was a tow-truck and an insurance adjustor for the damage done to the building.  Perhaps a police report for insurance purposes.

As I drove away from the building, people were flocking down the street to see what all the commotion was about. Imagine their horror when they discovered two broken window panes!