My question involves an accident that occurred in the state of Washington. My friend was on his way out of parking lot to make a right turn onto the main road. He was at a stop, when a car passing by from his left hit his front bumper causing it to fly right off. Now prior to the accident, my friend claims that he was stopped behind the stop line. I doubt that he was stopped at that line. Reason being is that there is pretty big distance between the front of that line and the front of the curb. Plus his view of traffic would have covered by bushes. Both my friend and the other driver admitted that my friend was at a stop, but in order for them to see each other my friend had to have moved up pass that line in order to see and be seen. I am not sure how far he had moved up pass that line, but is it legal to move pass that stop line if view of oncoming traffic is covered? And would my friend be at fault if his front bumper was in any way sticking out pass the front of the curb? This happened one night near midnight. The way I see it, I still think this could have been avoided if the other driver made a better judgement call while passing by, like swerving around the car to avoid hitting if the bumper was sticking out, but he also admitted that he was looking down for a few seconds prior to hitting him. Not sure at what point it was that the other driver was looking down, all I know is that it was before he hit the car.
Also my friend the other driver looked like he was driving pretty slow. After the accident they noticed my friend noticed that his tire was flat and had a pretty good rip on the side. So if my friend was behind the stop line like he said, maybe the other was trying to keep the car straight but veered right into the entrance where my friend was stopped and knocked the bumper. That other driver did say that night that my friend was behind the line, but now is changing his story.
What do you guys think about the situation. Who is at fault? Do you think the tire was flat prior to or during the accident? The driver did say he looked down for a few seconds.

