My Car Was Crashed While It Was Parked
My question involves an injury that occurred in the state of: California
my car was hit last night while it was parked the driver hit my car that it threw it into a neighbors fence and destroy both car and fence he hit another car about two street before mines. he was drunk of course but he went to a alley and got off the car when the police got there they said that they could go arrest him because he was not on the car so it can be a DUI. the driver told police that his car was stolen and he was chasing after his car but the keys were still in the ignition so how was his car stolen. the police said that they could not do anything and that i could be held charge for damaging my neighbor fence because it was my car.
what can i do or what should i do this is the first time this has happen to me or my family and were lost.
Re: My Car Was Crashed While It Was Parked
call your insurance company and let them deal with it.
You should not be held liable since your car was parked and some idiot hit you. That is the person anybody has to go after for damages. I do find it odd that with the keys in the car the cops walked away from this BUT they may have simply turned it over to the DA who may find enough evidence to lay charges.
Don't give up hope yet.
Quote:
driver told police that his car was stolen and he was chasing after his car
what was he doing? Running down the road after is car?
Re: My Car Was Crashed While It Was Parked
Don't be talking to the police ... the damage to your car is mainly a civil matter in respect to getting you whole ..
Re: My Car Was Crashed While It Was Parked
Unfortunately, the officers likely truly had no recourse in this scenario and were not just being lazy. Both hit & run and DUI are misdemeanors in CA. A police officer can only arrest on a misdemeanor committed in their presence. OP, the cops, and everyone reading this knows the guy was driving and committed the violations. Nonetheless, it did not occur in the officer’s presence. Unless someone else actually saw the violations and were willing to sign a citizen’s arrest, the cops could not take the POS into custody. So, all they can do is forward a report to the prosecutor and let the prosecutor decide if there is enough to file charges. That’s one of the (few) things that I was pleasantly surprised about WA law when I left CA. WA has a misdemeanor exception law (RCW 10.31.100) that allows police to arrest on probable cause for some misdemeanors (including hit & run and DUI).
I agree with jk. Report this to your insurance company and let them deal with it. That’s what you pay them for. You should not be found liable for the fence or the damage to your vehicle if it was legally parked.
Re: My Car Was Crashed While It Was Parked
i called my insurance and they filled a claim with the drivers insurance two people had already made a claim against the driver. thanks for the advice