Be careful where you park...

February 28, 2005 7:29 AM

Be careful where you park. And you thought your morning was bad.
posted by zardoz (34 comments total)

That tow-truck-fallen-in-the-sea thing ruined it for me -- I was truly expecting a Photoshopped moment of irony in the last frame.
posted by rolypolyman at 7:37 AM on February 28, 2005

Dang! Now I have a strong photographic reason to not move back to the snow! Thanks. And I'm glad no one was in the car when that happened.
posted by fenriq at 7:50 AM on February 28, 2005

fenriq, that rules out Lake Geneva for you then
posted by 13twelve at 7:56 AM on February 28, 2005

At first, I just assumed it was Photoshopped, since what would be the odds of catching that big chunk of snow just as it was about to fall? But it looks like the car roof's already bashed in a bit in the first shots, so it's at least possible someone was gawking at damage that had already happened, and then caught the follow-on snowfall that really capped it off.
posted by LairBob at 7:57 AM on February 28, 2005

13twelve, oh yeah. That's recent? Damn, I was just out chasing the dog barefoot. Hell no, you can keep the snow (and ice and sleet and frozen nose hairs!).
posted by fenriq at 8:05 AM on February 28, 2005

Lairbob, on second examination, you're right, the roof looks pre-bent. Maybe this is an insurance fraud?
posted by fenriq at 8:05 AM on February 28, 2005

The Date says March 1st, 2005... hmmm.
posted by psychotic_venom at 8:10 AM on February 28, 2005

What Lairbob said. Looks genuine to me.
posted by zardoz at 8:11 AM on February 28, 2005

Looks to me like a whole section had already fallen off, before that chunk hit the roof of the car. There's some kind of impact going on to the rear of the car in the fourth one down ...
posted by carter at 8:13 AM on February 28, 2005

I just assumed that one big chunk of snow had already fallen off the roof and banged in the roof a bit, and that's what drew the attention of the guy who took the (later) shots.

Regarding the date, though, I'm not even sure where you're seeing one. Is it meta-data on the image file?
posted by LairBob at 8:15 AM on February 28, 2005

i wonder why are the running lights are on, and who then turned them off.
posted by quonsar at 8:24 AM on February 28, 2005

ahem.. (puts on best Nelson Muntz voice)
Ha ha!!
posted by Edible Energy at 8:35 AM on February 28, 2005

and what about the guy in the background on the grassy knoll?
posted by Mach5 at 8:36 AM on February 28, 2005

that's a snowy knoll
posted by winston at 8:41 AM on February 28, 2005

re: the parking lights -- this is probably the car alarm going off as a result of the impact.
posted by winston at 8:43 AM on February 28, 2005

i wonder why are the running lights are on, and who then turned them off.

Perhaps the alarm went off? There seem to be two sets of photos, out of sequence; some with the lights on and some debris by the front tyre, and some with the lights off and no debris. It seems kind of elaborate for an insurance fraud, when you just leave it somewhere dodgy, and torch it.
posted by carter at 8:43 AM on February 28, 2005

Jinx!
posted by carter at 8:44 AM on February 28, 2005

Hey psychotic_venom, I didn't see the date you mention, but is it possible you're reading it American-style when it's meant to be read 3 January, 2005?

03-01-05 vs. 01-03-05, etc.
posted by joe lisboa at 9:20 AM on February 28, 2005

There's a nice shot of the snow block exploding, having just missed the rear driver corner.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:23 AM on February 28, 2005

Well, I gues Tepper really isn't going out anymore.
posted by haqspan at 9:31 AM on February 28, 2005

Looks legit to me. It's not crazy enough and the pictures are opportunistic enough (didn't catch the snow hitting the car on impact) to have it be photoshopped.
posted by Arch Stanton at 10:10 AM on February 28, 2005

Are there, by any chance, naked people involved in this alleged accident? My worksite's filter (Websense) believes this to be "General Pornography."
posted by kozad at 10:11 AM on February 28, 2005

kozad, it's on a site that apparently hosts a lot of "photo galleries", so while this is pretty innocuous, I wouldn't be surprised if they also post a fair amount of NSFW content.
posted by LairBob at 10:15 AM on February 28, 2005

The Date says March 1st, 2005... hmmm.
posted by psychotic_venom at 8:10 AM PST on February 28

Umm... I hate to burst your America - Centered worldview, but these pictures look to be taken in an Eastern European country/Russia maybe? (look at the license plate and clothes!) where it was March 1st quite a few hours ago.
posted by defcom1 at 10:16 AM on February 28, 2005

It's a Russian car. With license plates from Moscow.

[No, I didn't know this; but a bit of googling helped.]
posted by kika at 11:24 AM on February 28, 2005

The date reads January 3rd, not march first. I saw these pictures over a week ago. And I'm lousy at doing the licence plate guessing game because I was sure it happened in Switzerland. ;)
posted by dabitch at 11:42 AM on February 28, 2005

How is "America-Centered worldview" anti-American name-calling? Seems more like... say, a fact.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:41 PM on February 28, 2005

Hey, it's international, right? We don't need to think about things like that in the good ol' U.S. of A.
posted by bashos_frog at 1:33 PM on February 28, 2005

be indeed careful where you park your car (and/or boat)
posted by Substrata at 1:36 PM on February 28, 2005

Substrata, holy crap! Where was that? The URL is German, right?
posted by bashos_frog at 1:39 PM on February 28, 2005

Substrata, holy crap! Where was that?

i think it was Geneva
posted by Substrata at 1:57 PM on February 28, 2005

I like the guy brushing snow off with what looks like a comb in the last pic.
posted by shmegegge at 4:09 PM on February 28, 2005

Looks legit to me. It's not crazy enough and the pictures are opportunistic enough (didn't catch the snow hitting the car on impact) to have it be photoshopped.
In the first frame, notice the ground in front of the vehicle having a larger amount of snow.
Which leads me to think; the snow was falling like this off the roof further down the building giving one the knowledge of a future destroying snow fall where cars are parked on the street/alley. Plus it may happen often when the roof’s collected snow reaches a certain height - - {{{Look Out Bellow}}}, this high roof drops destroying size snow blocks below it, “we have cameras.”

Also, looking at roof’s collected snow, there are many many layers of it. Off hand maybe 10 snow falls. Which makes me wonder if there are rules regarding the clearing of roof tops and it was not done.
posted by thomcatspike at 4:21 PM on February 28, 2005

Let's not fight. Let's just enjoy the sight of a ruined SUV belonging to what look's like a skin-head and a bunch of Mafiosi.

I love snow.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 6:49 PM on February 28, 2005