Only in Tacoma

[Zderf]

At first I though this might have been one of our Tacoma bubs.. but they all know where 1st gear is!!

Seattle PI, July 22, 2003

He alleged bribery, but cop is punished Police sergeant's 'unarrest' of prominent Tacoma architect under scrutiny of department's inner workings.

Bundy was working at a construction site on Pacific Avenue where tracks were being laid for a light-rail system. The street was busy as people left Zoobilee, the Point Defiance Zoo Society's annual black-tie fund-raiser. Among them was Pardini, in a tuxedo, and his wife Patricia Karnay, in an evening gown, who were riding in a replica of a vintage Ford Cobra, a vehicle that Pardini told the P-I he thinks of as "my baby."

Pardini said in a written statement to police and in an interview with a reporter that when he approached a transition zone over the tracks, he was certain that his low-riding car would bottom out and be damaged. In Pardini's complaint to internal affairs, he said, "I stopped to briefly assess the situation when the flagman started yelling at me and trying to wave me through. I tried to explain that I couldn't make it over the transition."

Pardini told police that he and the flagman got into an argument that culminated when he obscenely announced that he was backing his car up. But he mistakenly put the car in first gear, and it lurched forward, he said.

For the full story:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/..._tacoma22.html

Tootles...

Zderf (safely in Woodinville)

[terry lee]

All I can say is that an architect finally got some respect.

TL

[Rich]

Ya know...you hear one Cobra vs railroad tracks (real or imagined) story and you think you've heard 'em all.

Guess not.

Rich

[Jake]

Zderf, that is one crazy story! I can't believe I didn't hear anything about that. I still don't know if I believe not knowing the differece between first and reverse. I also have a feeling that the Cobra owner let his anger take over and he dumped the clutch at 4000+ RPM just to make his point......Just a guess as it is always fun to backseat quarterback.

Jake

[Leep]

I knew the harshest criticism would be from fellow NW Cobra owners. Sad but true, and now for the rest of the story.....In my car the reverse is next to first and real tight so it's not easy to know if I,m in reverse until I let the clutch out alittle. I appreciate I will never live it down....but you had to be there. There is no way I was going to damage my Cobra and I'm sure you can appreciate that.

[KobraKarl]

Lee,

I think a lot of us have the same shift linkage, I am in the habit of blipping the throttle and easing the clutch out , first or reverse, and many times i have been in the wrong gear! Once or twice i've come close to crunching something.

The fact that another officer "unarrested "you leads me to beleive it was a personality problem ,and the second officer was trying to turn a mountain back into a molehill..

hope this thing has gone away for you.

KK