Anyone who’s been the victim of a hit-and-run knows what a profoundly irritating experience it can be.
On top of feeling violated and inconvenienced, you don’t even know whom to blame. There’s nobody to explain what happened, and nobody to hold accountable. You’re left wondering why someone would do such a thing.
And part of you hopes that the guilt eats the perpetrator alive.
That appears to be the case in South St. Paul, Minn. According to an article in the TwinCities Pioneer Press, a guilt-ridden individual recently mailed $1,000 and a letter of apology to the local police department – for a hit-and-run crime that allegedly occurred three decades ago.
“The writer apologized for a property damage hit-and-run crash more than 30 years old, asked for forgiveness and wondered whether police could track down the victim and give him or her the enclosed cash,” reporter Nick Ferraro explains in the article.
The unsigned letter was in an envelope with no return address, postmarked Nov. 3 in St. Paul, according to the newspaper.
South St. Paul Police Chief Bill Messerich summed up the situation this way: “ … I guess this was just weighing on this person’s conscience for over 30 years, and they came to a certain point in their life where they wanted to try to make things right if they could.”
For more, read the article in the TwinCities Pioneer Press.