TIFU by almost being charged with a hit and run at work.

So I got into a fender bender today. I work at a hospital where the only parking available is in a pretty crowded parking garage. It's normal for me to circle for 5-10 minutes sometimes looking for a spot. Well, today I saw a good spot but there was a car parked just a wee bit over the white line, and the car on the other side didnt leave a wide berth either. I should have kept driving but I decided to try pulling into that spot.

Never again. While pulling in I heard a little crunching/crackling sound and I knew I'd hit their bumper or something. I pulled away, reorient my car and pulled straight into the space. Istg my blood ran cold with fears of insurance, lawsuits, etc. I really panic about this kind of thing! So I called my girlfriend and sent her a picture of the side of their car to ask her opinion, should I leave a note, etc.

Now my car has some previous damage on the front bumper, nothing serious just a lot of paint that is chipping off from when someone tapped me a couple years back -- I didn't bother with insurance because I assumed it would be an easy fix, but it wasn't so I've been putting off fixing it, yadda yadda.

Well looking at the side of this car, all I could see was some paint chips left behind on their tire. I thought that must have been the noise I heard, looks like no harm done. The chips easily brushed away under my fingers. I saw no other issue, my girlfriend and I laughed it off.

Well flash forward 2 hours into my shift I am on my break using the bathroom when my manager calls me. He's a stoic guy and i have an anxiety disorder so I am always unsure if he's mad at me. All he said was "come down to the first floor", my heart sank wondering if I was in trouble for something but I said no problem, on my way, and we hung up. I thought surely it's just a team meeting to go over something as a group.

Nope! He ushered me into the small in-hospital police station and an officer began explaining that someone had come to them and reported that they saw me hit a car, and that this could be considered negligence and that I need to make a statement.

I felt totally panicked and freaked out. I filled out my statement which the officer remarked was rather long but I was so freaked out I just wanted to make sure I was being thorough and detailed. All the while my manager is standing a few feet away waiting with his usual pokerface on. I'm terrified I'm going to be fired right after this. This is not the first time an employee has come into contact with the police and while those times I heard of were due to violence, you never know.

I finished up and thanked the officer. I asked a few questions in my panicked state -- what's happening exactly? Is this a criminal issue? He said if he hadn't been able to contact me then it would have been a hit and run, but because he was able to get ahold of me there would be no charges. He said just make sure next time always leave a note. I thanked him.

My supervisor didn't really say anything, asked if he could have a copy of my statement and the police told him I could provide one if I want to. All my boss said to me was that I could go, and as we walked out together he didn't look at me or say anything else. Again, my boss is always very quiet and has a 24/7 pokerface, he rarely even greets me when we pass in the hall, but under the circumstances I found this terrifying.

I went back upstairs and ignoring my work, cried for about 40 minutes while my girlfriend calmed me down on the phone. Finally I texted my boss to apologize and he said it was all good, he just needed to have documentation whenever police are involved but that I wasn't going to be fired or anything.

Well, I went out to my car at lunch time and found a note on my car: "###-###-####, [name], you hit my car. Please call me, thanks."

I called her right away and she was incredibly kind. She said she had come out of the hospital into the parking garage and a man was standing there waiting for her to tell her he'd seen me hit her car. She said he was angry and insisted she needed to call insurance... fair enough, I was a dumbass and should have left a note, even though I meant no harm. But she didn't want to deal with insurance. She said there was actually a dent on the car, which I hadn't noticed, so I apologized. She said she was quoted a few hundred dollars to fix it up, and I happily sent her the money over Venmo.

She was incredibly kind and seemed put off by whoever it was that told her about the accident. (I'm low-key annoyed they didn't just speak to me, if they saw it happen, why couldn't they come yell at me instead of the freaking COPS? I am a short ditzy woman with a "Honk if you're a silly goose!" Bumper sticker, not a violent criminal, But whatever.) I thanked her profusely and thanked my lucky stars that was where it ended.

As annoyed I am to have that scare being brought down to the police, I admit it was stupid not to just leave a note when it happened. I genuinely didn't see any damage, just chipped paint left on the tire from my own car, but there was a voice in my head saying "you should leave a note just in case" which I ignored, thinking it wasn't a big deal. Next time I am NOT going to try to fit in that space next to the double-parker...

TL;DR: I hit a car while parking at work didn't leave a note. Got called into the police station by my manager and had to file a police report. I got in contact with the other driver who was super kind and we worked it out, but I feel totally embarrassed and stupid from the ordeal!