Rochester, N.Y. (WHAM) — The aftermath of a crash in Rochester that left four parked cars heavily damaged is becoming an insurance nightmare for one of the people involved.
Chelsea has lived on West Main Street for the past two years.
“I didn’t know how to feel,” she said of the crash. “I was angry and sad. There was just too much going on.”
Chelsea’s car was one of the four that was struck in the area of West Main and Broad streets during the early morning hours of March 1.
She said she was asleep in her upstairs apartment when the sound of tires screeching awoke her.
“We jumped up out of bed, and then I heard the collision, and we ran to the window and looked outside,” Chelsea said.
Rochester police said two unidentified individuals in their 20’s were located at the scene.
The investigation determined a man was driving a rental vehicle on Broad Street when he went off the road and drove into a parking lot off West Main Street.
Due to the vehicles not being occupied at the time of the crash, AAA insurance manager Alex Tetzlaff said the incident is considered property damage.
“New York State minimum liability limit is $10,000, (it) sounds like that’s what they had. If they had $10,000, then it does get distributed evenly amongst the four parked vehicles. So each of them are going to get $2,500, and then next on the totem pole is going to be their own insurance,” said Tetzlaff. “With four people, that’s not likely to happen, because one of them is probably saying, ‘You totaled my car, so I’m not accepting $2,500,’ and then you would just, unfortunately, have to take the civil court and go for the rest.”
Police say both the driver of the rental car and his female passenger were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
“There’s the homeless shelter right down the street,” Chelsea continued. “So, there’s always people walking back and forth all the time. So, yeah, it was pretty reckless, I’d say.”
Police said there are no pending charges for this report.
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