No contact, no collision — other driver's stuff broke HIS OWN car. Am I really liable??
Still kind of in disbelief this is even a situation I have to deal with, but here we are.
So I was pulling out of a parking spot along a side street — hazards off, turn signal on, checked my mirrors and my blind spot, everything looked clear. Started easing out slowly. Out of nowhere this pickup comes flying around the corner way faster than the posted limit. He lays on the brakes hard, I brake too, and we never actually touched. Zero contact between our vehicles whatsoever.
Here's where it gets wild: the guy had a big stack of lumber or some kind of long boards loose in his cab — not tied down, not in the bed, just rattling around inside the passenger compartment. When he panic-braked, the boards shot forward and punched right through his own dashboard area and cracked his windshield from the inside.
He immediately jumps out screaming that I caused it and that I'm paying for his windshield. The responding officer basically told him on the spot that unsecured cargo shifting during a hard stop is not someone else's fault, and since there was no actual collision the officer couldn't even file a full accident report — just an incident note.
Now the guy is talking about going after my insurance. I'm sitting here like… how is any of this on me? I signaled, I checked, and I didn't even make contact with his truck. His own cargo did the damage to his own vehicle.
Has anyone dealt with something like this? Should I even notify my insurance proactively, or wait to see if he actually files something? I'm honestly so frustrated.