I witnessed a car accident yesterday in Boulder Canyon.

Before continuing I think it’s important to note that no one was hurt. I hung around after and made sure.

So you can enjoy the following story guilt-free.

Me and two partners had just wrapped up a day of climbing at a roadside crag. One partner had to rush off to work. Me and the third person, a tall blonde woman, remained to sort out our equipment near the trunk of my car. We were parked in a dirt pullout, two or three meters from the nearest lane of traffic.

A small sedan zooms by. Four 17-year-old boys inside, it will turn out. They moan loudly at my partner and I out the windows. Confused by the noise – the car was moving pretty fast and we weren’t paying attention to the road – both of us whip our heads around to look at the road. And one second later —

The kids crash into the car in front of them. A loud thud reverberates up and down the canyon. Acrylic and plastic shards spitter across the road. One car pulls off, the other is dead in traffic, blocking one direction of the two-lane road..

The driver, an obvious kid, gets out and starts screaming in frustration. “FUCK! That was my fault!” is what another witness to the scene later tells me he said. I don’t notice though, as I’m talking to my partner.

“Did they make a noise at us as they went by?”
“Yeah, a moan or something? Sex noise?
“yes!”
“I thought I heard something.”
“Those little fuckers.”
“Did that cause the crash?”

They catcalled us, thinking they would escape consequence, and one second later they crashed.

The offending car, one front wheel mangled, is pushed from traffic by some bystanders. Parties talk. We offer our accounts to the victimized vehicle (some tourists). They dial insurance and we wait for the police.

My partner, meanwhile, marches up to the kids. They are emotionally shaken. So is she, although hers comes from a deeper, more societal place. Fired up, she straight-up asks them: “Why did you scream at me? Which one of you was it?”

They cower; do not answer.

What is there to say, really? They know the answer will not paint them favorably.

My partner gets in her car; leaves.

The kids must stay. They are waiting for the police.

I have to imagine it will be a while before they do such a stupid thing again.