Lynn man makes public plea

LYNN – Like the sticker in the window of Bill Emerson’s car reads, he “ain’t skeerd” but he is angry that hit-and-run incident has left his car demolished and him with no recourse.”My car was parked legally, and it was hit and destroyed,” he said. “I’m just a working guy and there’s nothing I can do.”Emerson said on Aug. 4 he parked his 2000 Hyundai Sonata outside his Chestnut Street home as always. On Aug. 5 he awoke to find the bumper hanging by a thread, a broken fuel line, the rear wheel on the driver’s side turned sideways and the left rear panel completely smashed. It didn’t take him long to find the car that hit him, but getting justice is becoming increasingly bleak, he said.”I followed tire tracks,” he said. “They blew a tire when they hit me and the rubber left marks that I followed right to the car.”Emerson said he knew he was on the right trail when he found a Maxima parked on Henry Street. The car that struck his Sonata left a piece of its own body behind.Not knowing what he might be walking into, Emerson said he decided to call the police rather than knock on doors trying to determine who owned the vehicle.”They asked around but no one knew who it belonged to,” he said.Emerson discovered the insurance company for the vehicle but the agent told him the owner had reported the car stolen, which also meant the company would not pay for damages, he said.”So they won’t cover it, I don’t have collision coverage on my 13-year-old car so I’m left with nothing,” he said.That’s when he decided to ask the public for help to find the actual driver.Saturday morning Emerson put large neon green signs on both the windshield and rear window of the car asking the public to call if they knew anything of the accident.”By noon I had two witnesses,” he said.One witness told Emerson he was walking his dog when the car swerved, hit Emerson’s car and swerved again nearly striking him and his four-legged companion, Emerson said. Witnesses also told him they thought it was a woman driving the car, he said.His hope is that if he can track down the culprit he might get some restitution. In the meantime Emerson said he is frustrated and “wondering where my next wreck will come from.”His roommate, Mary Fairbanks, called the stretch of Chestnut Street, just a block from Flax Pond, dangerous. Cars speed and pay little attention to pedestrians, and it’s not unusual to hear a crash in the middle of the night, she said.”I’m like the neighborhood watch up here,” Fairbanks added, speaking from a second floor deck. “No one stops for pedestrians ? I see people texting while they drive ? it’s crazy.”A police spokesman could not be reached for comment.