I 21m have an older brother Dave (Fake name) that has always been a jerk to me. There's only a one year gap between us. But he liked to beat me up when we were kids, and he always acted like anything that was mine was also his.
He was also somewhat the golden child. Which made me miserable. So no surprise I moved out at 18. My uncle is a now retired police officer, and he took me in after I left home. He even hooked me up with a decommissioned Crown Vic. I absolutely love that car.
I don't know why. But Dave hated the fact I had that car. He drove three beater cars into the ground while my Crown Vic kept chugging along. Well after his third beater finally died when he drove it into a pole, he asked to borrow my car. I had a bad feeling and said I wasn't gonna do that.
He called me entitled and said he needed a car to get to work. I told him to take the bus because I know how he drives and my Crown Vic was off limits. My parents called me after that and told me to just lend him my car.
I said I won't no matter what they say. I rely on the car and need it as well since it's my personal transportation. Dave wasn't the only one in the world with a job he needed to get to. My uncle congratulated me for standing up to them and gave me a high-five.
A few days later when I got off work the car wasn't where I parked it. I called my brother's cell, but he didn't pick up. Then I called my parents and asked them if he took my car. They denied it.
So I said I was gonna call the cops, and then they admitted he'd "Borrowed" it because he needed it. I told them he better bring it back right now or I'll have police looking for him. They called me a jerk and then phoned Dave to bring my car back. He showed back up in the parking lot in my car 20 minutes later.
I demanded to know how he stole my car, and he held up a set of police Crown Vic keys he'd bought online. (Some were made universal) I told him if he ever stole my car again, I'd have him arrested.
Then he had the audacity to ask for a ride home. I told him he made me wait in the December cold after stealing my car, so he could walk. He called me a jack&$$ before I drove away. After that my uncle installed a tracking device in the car.
When Christmas Day came I was celebrating with family like every year. The roads were cold and icy. So I had to be very careful while driving. By now you're probably clued in on the title. Yeah, Dave "Borrowed" my car again during the Christmas party. Apparently he decided he was gonna go pick up a friend and figured I wouldn't notice.
But I did when I looked out the front window and saw my car was missing. I pulled up the tracking app and saw he was a few miles away. Then called his cell to yell at him. Everyone in the party saw this and asked what was going on.
I said Dave stole my car again. And my uncle confirmed it wasn't the first time. Dave told me over the phone to screw off and he'd be back soon. I said he better not have been drinking. But he just hung up on me.
Well while I was watching the tracker app the dot stopped and didn't move for a while. Soon we got a panicked call from Dave asking for help. He'd crashed the car because he couldn't handle the icy roads and he wasn't used to a rear wheel drive vehicle. So we piled in my parents minivan and followed the tracker.
We found Dave by the road and my Crown Vic nose deep in a snow filled ditch. My uncle was furious as it was formerly a car of his department. And I was mad as hell at Dave for stealing my car again. My parents wanted me to let it go. But I said enough was enough and was gonna call police.
Dave begged me not to because he really had been drinking before he set off and would get a DUI. I said he was gonna pay me back for my damned car then or I'd sue him.
Well as luck would have it police were already aware of the accident and were driving in to check on the scene. Someone else had called them I guess. My parents tried to say that I was the one driving the car and they were just there to help me. I said that wasn't true, and my uncle backed me up. In fact, one of the cops that was there recognized my uncle and they had a chat.
Then they went to Dave and asked to see his license. Which I then found out was suspended after he'd crashed his previous car. Then they breath tested him. He wound up with cuffs slapped in his wrists while my mother was crying and begging the police not to take him away.
But the officer just said that she and my dad could get arrested too for lying to police. That shut my parents up. And we got back in the minivan. The Christmas party was ended early and my parents drove me and my uncle home since he rode with me. They didn't say much to either of us the whole drive, and just sped away as soon as we were out of their van. They nearly slipped off the road themselves doing that.
My brother was let out of jail the next day. And he looked so scared that he was practically crying. The cops there had roughed him up a bit while talking about prison and the $#&% they'd seen go on there. Dave had actually pissed himself during that and they let him take a shower.
That's when my uncle started cracking up and revealed to us that his friends in the department never filed the DUI and just the charge for the suspended license. Which was about a six hundred dollar fine. My uncle said he just wanted to teach Dave a lesson.
And this would be the one and only time he'd ever get his help. Dave then apologized to me and said he'd pay to have my Crown Vic fixed and would never touch it again. When it got pulled out of the ditch the front end damage was actually minor. It needs a new front bumper, a headlight, and a grill.
The damage was just superficial thankfully. My parents have pretty much glossed over the whole incident and act like it didn't happen. Dave gave me the extra Crown Vic keys he'd bought online and said this has taught him a lesson he won't soon forget.
Well this is an update to my previous post. And this all went down yesterday. My brother promised he'd pay for the damage to my car. And he kept that promise. The body shop guy cut me a deal at a fair price for replacing the damaged front end parts on my Crown Vic.
He just asked if I cared whether or not they were OEM. I told him I didn't care if they were OEM as the car is far from new and I didn't need the bill to get too high. I'd thought that the damage was only cosmetic. But there was some minor damage the body shop will need to pull out.
But it's not frame damage and is an easy job to straighten out they told me. There was some minor damage to the fender panels. But they said they're easy to fix. Especially since I don't care that they aren't perfect. And the new parts will be painted in a matching color. So that's good.
My brother willingly paid cash in advance to the body shop after getting the quote from them. He seemed all too eager to hand the money over and politely bid me goodbye. I won't say how much it was. But it definitely hurt his savings.
Especially after the fine he had to pay for driving without a license. He was wanting to get a replacement car. But he won't have one till his license suspension is over anyway. And I don't know when that'll be. But I think it's gonna be a good while.
Anyway, my parents had given my brother a ride to the body shop. And as soon as he was out the door they stayed and admonished me for making him spend all his money fixing my car. I imagine they were about to say something about how I should have just leant my car to him to begin with, and how this all would have been prevented if I had.
But something in me snapped, and I cut them off. And that's when it spilled out. I called them out on everything that came to mind. All of the favoritism. How they act like my brother has always been more important. How I had to move in with my uncle just to escape their unfair treatment.
How they let my brother steal my car and then tried to lie to me until I threatened police. How they themselves tried to lie to police by saying I was the one driving when my brother crashed my Crown Vic.
And so much more. And I ended it all with saying how stupid it was that they were mad at me for making my brother pay for the damage that he caused by stealing my car on Christmas F@@@@@@ Day, and driving it without a license and while intoxicated. By the time I finally stopped I was nearly out of breath.
My mother was crying. My father was red in the face and looked like he was about to explode. Then he just took my mother by the hand and started to walk out. But some guy I don't know that was sitting near the door blurted out "You guys are narcissists!". Well that was enough to set my father over the edge as he started attacking the guy. My father is not a small man.
And he knows how to throw a punch. So he started beating the crap out of the poor guy like a mad gorilla. I yelled for the clerk to call the cops. And they did. My father heard that and bolted out the door and drove off. He actually left my mother behind crying in the lobby.
Police had to pick him up at home. And he surprisingly cooperated when he was arrested. But he's looking at charges for assault. The guy he beat up suffered a very swollen black eye, and a possible broken nose and concussion. I was there when they were loading him into the ambulance to get him to the hospital.
My mother has called me crying and blaming herself. My uncle is saying it was about time my dad tasted some karma. And my brother is doing everything he can to stay out of it. This is not how I thought this was all going to go down.
Well my father is out of jail now. And I'm told he looks like crap. My mother paid his bail, and he came out looking nearly as beat up as what he did to the guy he attacked.
Apparently he picked a fight while in jail over the weekend and got swarmed by other people there. My uncle went with my mother when my father was let out and described to me what he looked like.
He said he's got two black eyes, dark bruises everywhere, a fat lip, and he's missing a tooth. My uncle said he didn't try to blame anything on me. In fact, he barely talked. Just got in the minivan with my mother and went home.
And I did manage to get in contact with the guy my father beat up. A friend of a friend knows him. I'll call him Dan for the sake of telling this. My father beat Dan up pretty bad. He's got a concussion from his head hitting the wall after taking several punches.
His nose was indeed broken, he's in a neck brace, and he spent two days in the hospital. When I asked him what his plans were, he confirmed he is indeed going to be suing my father, and has already spoken to a lawyer. I told him to do what he has to do. Beyond that I have no details on the case.
My friends and I put together a gift basket for Dan. And we each put some money into it since he's not gonna be able to go to work for a while. My uncle even contributed, even though he didn't have to. Dan was very thankful when we presented it to him.
My mother hasn't tried to call or text me since my father was released. But my brother has told me through texts that she's still been crying a bit. And my father has remained pretty much silent since he got home and hardly leaves the couch. The last time my father was like this, he didn't speak to anyone for at least a week. But this situation is way worse than what made him go silent last time.
I know it's been months. But I finally have an update for everyone. The guy my father beat up is doing fine now. Other than needing to have his nose fixed, the rest of his wounds healed fine. He filed a lawsuit against my parents.
And my father was initially stubborn as an ox about it and was dead set on fighting it. But he ended up changing his mind. Why? Well for multiple reasons. The first one being someone in the middle of the night broke several of the windows on my parents' minivan.
My uncle says that the police were pretty sure it was done with a BB gun. I guess that makes sense. But no culprit was found. My father replaced the windows on the van himself as he's done it before. And no one has vandalized the vehicle since. But I think whoever did it may be friends or family with the guy my father beat the shit out of.
The next thing was my father was told by a lawyer that he had no chance of winning in court. There was CCTV footage, multiple witnesses, including myself, and no judge in their right mind would want to listen to my father. The last thing that made him change his mind was my mother threatened to divorce him.
And I guess that was enough for him to finally surrender in mediation before the lawsuit went to full court. He settled with the guy he beat up in the mechanic shop for an amount that I haven't been able to find out as my mother won't tell me. But I'm guessing it was a lot.
My father also has been forced to go to anger management as part of the agreement. I've only saw him a few times the past few months. And it's pretty obvious he's still mad at me, because he avoids looking at me and constantly looks mad.
But after everything that's happened, he no longer has a way to justify his anger. Not even to himself. She he just sits quietly and fumes. He's also apparently cut back on drinking a lot. Probably because that's one less expense he and my mother would have to deal with.
Now on to my brother. You may all be pleased to hear that he's been working hard to mend things with me. He's moved out of our parents' house and in with a friend. He's got his license back, but no car as he can't afford one yet. Instead he's been riding a bike to get to work.
His relationship with our parents is more strained now though. After a while our father started turning his ire on my brother. He finally started blaming him for all of the shit that happened over the holidays. And our mother had to make him calm down. He's a lot calmer now since he started going to anger management.
But it's obvious he still hates me. But it's not like my parents are offering to do family therapy, or couples therapy with each other. And I suspect the reason why is because my father doesn't want more people telling him he's wrong. My mother, brother, and uncle all agree with that too.
My father is still employed. His clientele dropped for a while, but he's back on his feet now. My mother says he wants to get a denture made at the dentist for his missing teeth.
Yeah, turns out he lost more than one tooth after getting out of jail. It was just one initially. But several of his upper teeth were already in bad shape. And he had to have several of them pulled. So he's missing six teeth on the upper left side of his mouth now.
A lot of people in my early posts chastised my uncle for keeping my brother's DUI from getting filed. And I was on the fence about that myself. My uncle read a lot of the comments, and finally after a few months said that he'll never do something like that again. No matter who it is. I agreed with him, and my brother knows too. So no one is ever gonna expect my uncle will just fix something if they get arrested.
So that's my final update everyone. See you all later. PS: Yes my car is doing fine. It has a tracker and a kill switch now. And there have been no mechanical issues with it since it was repaired.