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Possable Hit And Run Charge?
whitestucco
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
A car was stuck at a green light and I drove around it. Unbeknownst to me, my car brushed against their car dislodging a protruding side mounted license plate bracket. I continued to my place of work 1.3 miles from the scene of the accident. The car followed me there and it was then that I found out. The driver claimed Hit And Run. A police officer arrived and indicated Hit And Run. But in the end I was given no citations and the officer didn't make out a report. Just did Drivers Exchange Cards. The officer said if he had given me a ticket, it would have been for unsafe passing. I filled out my own report at the station. Could I still expect a summons for Hit And Run, since I wasn't charged/cited by the investigating officer at the time? I don't know if the other driver's report if (any) will claim Hit And Run. The cop said he didn't file a report because the other driver and two passengers wanted to get going.
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You could talk to a lawyer, they often offer free consultations, and this is a good use of that.
However, I would expect that your auto insurance will get a call, and you may want to talk to them first.
You should have taken pictures. I would expect to have this guy sue you in civil court and show up with pictures of his car after he had a tank roll over the back end or something like that.
I can has cheezburger, yes?
Lawyer maybe. Insurance definitely not. Nothing good will come of you calling them. If the guy decides to continue to be a goose and pursues it, the company will get a hold of you.
Well since the driver called a cop to thoroughly investigate the damage while I was standing there, I suppose the driver would have to be really really stupid to do that, and I doubt anyone would fall for it. The driver's main beef was that the driver thought I knew I clipped the other car and intentionally kept driving to work. I'm not concerned about the civil aspect of vehicle damage, I'm concerned about the criminal aspect of a hit and run accusation.
I read in an archived thread somewhere, some guy saying he received a summons for hit and run three years after it happened. But thinking on it, he was probably in hiding and the law finally caught up with him.
I got answers from about six lawyers on avvo.com and lawyers.com, both really excellent sites, and they all said to contact my insurance company and get a claims adjuster. My first inclination was the same as yours; let the other person's insurance contact them. But I'm now glad that I went through them. Yes, it might hike my rates, but the thing I was reminded of is that insurance is there for protection. The guy who took care of it was one of those older seen it all knows it all types. And it shows that I'm not trying to cover anything up or evade financial responsibility. I'm sure if I did get summoned for hit and run, that's something the judge would ask. If it was on Judge Judy, she'd ask, "did you contact your insurance company right away?" And if I said "no", I'm sure her response would be "WHY NOT?!!!!" and my goose would start to be cooked from that point forward.
For a possible hit and run charge, being as up forward as possible with everyone connected will weigh in my favor. All of the lawyers said it was possible that I might be summoned for hit and run, but the chances were slim and not to lose sleep over it, if anyone is wondering.
One of these days someone in my situation will bring up the archive of this thread (which is what brought me here) and that's one reason why I put this question out there.
I got answers from about six lawyers on avvo.com and lawyers.com, both really excellent sites, and they all said to contact my insurance company and get a claims adjuster. My first inclination was the same as yours; let the other person's insurance contact them. But I'm now glad that I went through them. Yes, it might hike my rates, but the thing I was reminded of is that insurance is there for protection. The guy who took care of it was one of those older seen it all knows it all types. And it shows that I'm not trying to cover anything up or evade financial responsibility. I'm sure if I did get summoned for hit and run, that's something the judge would ask. If it was on Judge Judy, she'd ask, "did you contact your insurance company right away?" And if I said "no", I'm sure her response would be "WHY NOT?!!!!" and my goose would start to be cooked from that point forward.
For a possible hit and run charge, being as up forward as possible with everyone connected will weigh in my favor. All of the lawyers said it was possible that I might be summoned for hit and run, but the chances were slim and not to lose sleep over it, if anyone is wondering.
One of these days someone in my situation will bring up the archive of this thread (which is what brought me here) and that's one reason why I put this question out there.
So wait... another driver chased you? Man, why did you give them anything?
That's pretty weird. Can people even do that? Is the affected driver even involved in this?
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
Either I'm missing something big, or some of you are jumping to some really strange conclusions.
You wouldn't follow after someone who clipped you and kept going? My complaint was the driver didn't do any horn honking and highbeam flashing, to prompt me to pull over, which I would have done. I got clipped once and chased after the who kept going. He like me didn't realize what happened.
The person I clipped is the one who followed me. I do find it kinda strange that it went from the cop acting all drill sergeant and saying he was going to throw the book at me, to later becoming amicable and saying no tickets. My guess is the driver told him to cut me a break. Maybe because it's Christmas time. Or maybe the cop believed me and was putting on a show to keep the driver happy until the person left.
If you did the lawyer-asking and took the advice given, you're probably good.
All the lawyers who responded said it's possible that it could come back to bite me, but the chances are slim. Most statues for a misdemeanor run 7 years. But that usually means if you were never dealt with by the law and they finally caught up with you. One guy said in a forum that he got summoned after three years. But my guess it that he never talked to a cop, or made out a police report, or filed a claim with his insurance like I did.
When the cop first arrived he was responding to a Hit and Run call and knew no further details. When the other driver first got there he was (quite understandably) angry at the situation. My guess is that as things calmed down it quickly became apparent to both the cop and the other driver that you were genuinely unaware of the damage rather and were happy to follow the system to get things sorted.
You've done the right things and made your reports to the relevant authorities so I think it's time to just move on.