Leave the scene, did not see the damage

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spring2000

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I heard some noise while I was trying to park two spots in front of another car along the road. I thougt that because I driving on the snow (there was big snow on the road at that time), I also suspected that I might have contacted with the other car. I got off the car and checked my car, no obvious scractch. I also did not see obvious damage in the other car. I locked the car and went to work. Then two hours later, a got a message from my collegue that a police man has been looking for me. Actually I was not around in the office or the lab because I went to the bank after meeting with my boss. Then I called the police department and the police man came back. He seemed very angry, might because he had been looking for me for long time. He showed me the scratch on my car and the other car and gave me a ticket for "leave the scene". I was pregnant at that time and was 12 days to my due date. I did not see the scratch might because it was hard for me to bend over and look for the scratches. I will go to a court trial in April. Not sure what should I do. I am from a foreign country and not familiar with the procedures/rules in the court in US. Any suggestions are appreciated!
 
Make no statements to anyone.
Do not speak about your case to anyone but your attorney.
Hire an attorney immediately.
All you need to know is that this can cost you a lot of money and increase your insurance rates, too.
You might even lose your driving privileges.
You have a physician to deliver your baby, you need a lawyer to deliver you from this legal mess!
 
Thanks army judge. Seems you are the prof here. What the prosecutors do in the court? I did not get a chance to talk to him today but I saw others talked to him. I did not completely understand what the judge said.
 
spring2000 said:
Thanks army judge. Seems you are the prof here. What the prosecutors do in the court? I did not get a chance to talk to him today but I saw others talked to him. I did not completely understand what the judge said.
Click to expand...
The prosecutor's job is to get you locked up, or at a minimum, get the judge to take your money! You should NEVER speak to them unless your attorney is present. You do NOT have to speak to anyone or admit to anything. I recommend that you say nothing to anyone, but not guilty! Of course, be courteous and answer questions only about your age, name, address, etc...

Before you talk to anyone, hire a lawyer. They'll eat you alive without one! One of your colleagues could recommend one to you, or a family member. You aren't a criminal, as this is nothing but a serious traffic charge, that can be very costly, without a good lawyer!


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Consider this... unless you have already made a statement to the police, how would they know if you struck the other vehicle or if the other vehicle struck yours?

You can probably beat the charge for leaving the scene... you are likely just going to be ordered to pay for the damages.
 
The police said they have a witness. He showed me the red paint (my car is red) in the other car (blue), and the blue paint on my car. However, he was wrong because the so called blue scratch he called was just a mud according to the evaluation of my insurance company and it was removed by just wiping the car. My I point in the court that what the police called scratch on my car is just a line of mud? Because if the red paint from the other car is from my car, I should at least have some scratch on my car, right?The thing is, above the scratch that the police pointed to me, I did notice a scratch on my car, but I do not know when and how it was there and there is no blue paint on it.
 
Another point is, the scratch on my car is so tiny that my husband even could not find it after I told him that there was a scratch on our car on the right side door. And according to the evaluation of my insurance company, it is only about 100$ to fix the scratch and it costs nothing for removing the mud line, which the police said it was blue paint. I am getting worried about this mess and wants to get out it as soon as possible.
 
They don't likely have a witness. If you hardly noticed it yourself, nobody else would either. This is a pretty petty matter... don't worry about court. Hopefully you haven't said anything that will hurt you.
If anything you will be ordered to pay for the damage to the other car... you won't get a hit and run charge out of this.
You should make them prove that you hit the other car rather than the other car ran into you.
 
Thanks mightymoose. I think I was nervous when I was talking to the policeman. I should have argued with him that the scratch he pointed could not have made the paint on the other car. He made a wrong statement in the accident report. He said he talked to me and I did not show up as I said on the phone for long time. Actually, I never talked to him over the phone and I did not know there was a policeman waiting for me. Until now I still do not know who was "me" that he had asked to come to my car. Should I mention this in the court? I am not sure whether they will explain "not showing up" as "trying to run". Come on, I was almost at due date and I can hardly walk, where can I run?
 
contact your auto insurance comapny

This is easily handled by your auto insurance company. Contact them, report the incident exactly as it happened and they will advise you on further handling. Staceyann Dolenti
 
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