Careless Driving Citation, Arkansas

[stefos_usa]

In Arkansas.
I stopped to witness highway accident when silver honda civic in front of me struck the black honda suv in front of her. the woman accused me of "pushing her" into the the other vehicle. officers wrote a citation to me for "careless driving" saying i must have been following too close. the accident report accurately indicates "no damage" to my vehicle. it also indicates that i was driving "straight forward" on the highway. the final diagram and writeup from the officer was: "as v1, (blk honda suv), v2, the (silver 02 civic) were stopped in lane 2 of i40 east v3, the (red 05 altima) struck the rear of v2 and knocked v2 into the rear of v1. all 3 vehicled pulled safely off the roadway after impact and prior to my arrival."
i immediately went to my ins company and a collision specialist, both stated "this car has no evidence of collision". the only evidence from the scene of the crime at this point are the photo's i took of all 3 vehicles, which clearly indicate no damage to front of v3, rear of v2. the owner of v2 - the civic has refused to allow my ins company to see her vehicle, but is claiming damages - both physical and to her vehicle. note: i have documented neck & back conditions (bad discs) which would have been aggravated had i had an impact. nothing in the report shows any documentation or proof of impact other than the woman stating "i was hit". after a brief secondary investigation, both officers now claim that prior to their rubbing our bumpers with their hands, they saw some disturbance in the dirt on the bumpers. one officer, their supervisor even stated verbally "i've seen vehicles hit at 20mph and not get any damage". i'm extremely frustrated with the officers involved in this, they were not there to witness. i've been told by several collision experts that i couldn't have pushed her car forward as indicated w/out receiving some kind of damage due to my vehicle iihs ratings. how do i proceed with this? the officers warned me the judges trust their judgement and will "go their way".

[Litigator]

The careless and prohibited driving citation you received is a criminal traffic charge--a violation under Arkansas law punishable by a fine not exceeding $100.00 (court costs would be added to the fine). The prosecutor would be required to prove each element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. The case sounds extremely shaky to me if the officers' testimony is all they have, even with the officers' anticipated testimony that they observed some sort of damage to the front of your car. Even if the car had such damage, it is speculative to conclude that the damage occurred as a result of this incident.

The judge could believe the officers and still find you not guilty of the charge. On the other hand, if the judge believes the anticipated testimony of the woman in front of you, which could be construed as being corroborated by the testimony of the officers concerning the damage they supposedly observed, then the judge will likely find you guilty of the charge for following too closely/failure to keep a proper lookout, which is one of the ways the offense of careless and prohibited driving can be committed. As occurs with some frequency in these types of cases, it appears to boil down to a credibility determination concerning whose testimony the judge ends up believing.