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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Posts
    1

    Unhappy Accidental Hit and Run With Minor Property Damage

    My question involves a traffic accident in the State of: Indiana

    I am back home from college for the summer in a small Indiana town, home to many an aggressive driver.

    This morning, I was taking my younger sister to a summer class. The entrance to the school lot is a two-lane, one-way drive with a speed limit of 15. As I drove in via the right lane, I had to stop briefly behind a parked vehicle blocking about half of the right lane. As I began to edge around the parked car, a Mustang behind me to the left accelerated and zipped past me. To me, it appears that they nearly scrape up against us (later, I would find they clipped my front fender with their rear bumper). Something like this happens once a week here to almost everyone; our town is full of arrogant kids who drive irresponsibly. I was annoyed by what I thought was just douche-y driving on their part, and as I drove into line behind them, I saw one of them glance back at us. I pulled up to the right side curb, as the Mustang sat already beside the left side curb. I sat there for roughly 30 seconds as my sister got her bags together, got out of the car, etc. (The occupants of the Mustang remained in their vehicle, making no attempt to get my attention.)

    After my sister got out, I slowly peeled out and drove along the school's exit drive. The Mustang roared up behind me, honked twice, and continued to drive very close to me. I turned off out of the exit and continued on a few other roads to see if the Mustang was actually following me, which it was. Now, in my town, it's more common than it should be for certain teenagers to harass/intimidate people who cut you off or otherwise inconvenience your driving, so I assumed it was a case of this occurring, and called my Dad, informing him that someone was following me after a near miss, and that I was just going to go to the police station to clear up the situation. The car continued following me, until about five minutes later, the car suddenly disappeared and a police car came to pull me over.

    As it turns out, The kid had actually hit me (as stated before), but I was completely unaware. The impact was only a slight paint scrape, so it made NO noise in my car (the stereo wasn't even on); my sister was later shocked this afternoon when I told her the other car had hit mine. Now, I suddenly go from thinking I'm the victim of some intimidator to realizing I'm the unwitting perpetrator of a hit-and-run.

    The damage to both cars is negligible; it's likely that nobody will file an insurance claim. Even if a claim were filed, I am completely capable of paying the damages (which would total less than $150, I estimate), and I don't mind culpability for the accident itself (I honestly think it was both of our faults). However, I refuse to accept a conviction for fleeing the scene when I truly had no idea any accident had occured.

    I think I may have a fairly good chance of getting off, as (theoretically) I could have my sister confirm the fact that the impact was inaudible, and My father (who is fairly well-respected in the community because he is a college administrator) could confirm that I truly did call him under the impression I was being harassed.
    Secondly, it would have been inexplicably ridiculous for anyone to flee the scene of this accident: it was clearly EXTREMELY minor (as it was almost soundless) and there were tons of witnesses (kids entering school, parents in cars, etc).
    Thirdly, none of my behavior patterns were consistent with someone who was attempting to "escape". I took a fairly roundabout route at first to see if they would lose interest, and I then looped back along another road to head towards the police station. Though the car followed me closely the entire time, I was consistently going the speed limit, and the route I took had already presented me with numerous better opportunities for escape, but I took the route I did because it led to the police station.

    If I can prove that I was unaware of what happened, I cannot be convicted (though I was aware of what I would have been legally obligated to do had I known). The question is, will my testimony be strong enough?

    Any comments? Suggestions?
    I must say, I'd really like to have this thrown out in court.

    Thanks,
    Chris

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Accidental Hit and Run With Minor Property Damage

    Did the police conclude that the Mustang hit you or that you hit the Mustang?

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