Accused of Hitting a Man with My Car
Happened in Ohio:
I was delivering pizzas at night and was looking for an address on a street. This street is originally a two street, but turns into a
one way street.
I was originally on the side that is a two way, and passed the house I was looking for because it was dark and the house did not have a porch light.
When I realized I passed the house I turned around, not realizing I was now in the one way, which means I am now going the wrong way down a one way. I pass two houses before I realized my blunder, and stopped my car and was about to turn around to go the right way, when a man walked out into the road, in front of my car. At first I thought he was just crossing the road, so I remained completely stopped waiting for him to cross, when he just jumped/fell onto the hood of my car and started screaming and saying I hit him.
This caught me off guard and I just sat in my car for a couple seconds, not believing my eyes. Then I got out, and was about to call 911 but the "victim's" friend beat me to the punch. So I moved my car into a restaurant parking lot right next to us, and waited for the cops and ambulance to come.
They came took the guy off in the ambulance and the cops took everyones statements and inspected my car. Not even a minor ding anywhere on the hood of my car.
After the cops finished they told me that pretty much nothing was going to happen, and that he was going to submit all the findings to the traffic court, or something to do with traffic, and they may choose to investigate it further.
But worst case scenario I get cited with a one way violation and he gets cited with j walking.
Thats good news, but I was wondering if there is anything else I need to do to protect myself from being taken to court to be sued or if that is possible still?
Thanks.
Re: Accused of Hitting a Man with My Car
There is nothing you can do to stop him from suing you if he chooses to. Let your insurance deal with it if he does. It sounds like you are getting scammed. He will probably contact you and offer to settle for cash.
Re: Accused of Hitting a Man with My Car
You need to call your auto insurance company and I hope you disclosed to them that you were using your personal vehicle during the course of your job because if you didn't, most insurance companies will not cover the accident....
Re: Accused of Hitting a Man with My Car
There was no accident. The police didn't even file a police report, just submitted a statement. I asked if they were going to file one, and they said no because there was no accident.
The guy ended getting in a violent confrontation with nurses and police officers while at the hospital too.
Re: Accused of Hitting a Man with My Car
You have a man accusing you of hitting him with your vehicle and you think there's no accident and no reason for you to report it to your insurance company?
OK, wait until he eventually sues you, then report it to your insurance company and watch them deny coverage because you waited too long.
Re: Accused of Hitting a Man with My Car
I'm just saying when I asked them at the police station about the police report, they said they weren't going to file one because they didn't consider an accident to have taken place.
Re: Accused of Hitting a Man with My Car
I have been involved (or my vehicle has been involved) in a few accidents where there was never a police report. One has very little to do with the other.