PORTSMOUTH, Va. — A Portsmouth woman is without transportation after a city vehicle crashed into her two parked trucks on Godwin Street in the Park View neighborhood.
Telaza Mitchell said her St. Patrick's Day morning was interrupted when the incident occurred.
"I just heard this big crash," Mitchell said. "I looked out my bedroom window and a city vehicle slammed into the back of my parked vehicles," Mitchell said.
According to the accident report WTKR requested from the city, a Portsmouth parks employee stated a car was tailing him. The employee said the driver sped around him, and to avoid hitting the driver, he hit the back of one of the trucks.
One of the totaled vehicles held deep sentimental value.
"My father gave me this vehicle, November 21, and he passed three weeks later. So this was near and dear to my heart. I kept it up. When I had this, I felt like I had a piece of him, but it’s totaled," Mitchell said.
Following the crash, Mitchell filed a police report and contacted the city. A city councilperson connected her with the risk management office in hopes that the city would pay for a rental car.
"I got nothing," Mitchell said.
Because the city of Portsmouth is self-insured, Mitchell has no outside insurance company to turn to. She says both of the trucks are insured. She is dependent on the city's process while paying out of pocket for transportation to get to work in Chesapeake.
"That's gonna run me anywhere between $25 to $28," Mitchell said.
Mitchell hopes the city will quickly make the situation right.
"I'm just asking you to be apologetic, you know, because this here was very sentimental to me, whether they knew it or not," Mitchell said.
