The short summary of that was that my wife got in a car accident that was not her fault, and completely totalled our van. The guy who rammed into her then fled the scene.
We got a copy of the police report today and found out the following:
[ul]
[li]His name and address[/li][li]His phone number[/li][li]That something called “interlock” was not a factor [/li][/ul] What we would like to find out is a little more about this guy. Was he drunk (The report is marked “No” for alcohol, but the guy wasn’t around to be offered a breath test)? If he wasn’t drunk, was he high, or mentally altered in some way? Or was he just stupid?
These are the questions that the report doesn’t answer. How would we find that information out? Also, what is, “interlock” as it is marked on the report?
Dunno what interlock is. Ask the police department.
If the police report says no alcohol, then you probably won’t be able to say otherwise. On the other hand, if you can prove otherwise independently (say, by finding witnesses who saw him drinking right before the accident), then you can discredit anything else in the report (and the officer who wrote it).
The police report is certainly not going to tell you if he was stupid. Dunno what state you live in, but you could at least check to see if his license was valid at the time of the accident, if he had insurance (in CA it’s required), if the car was properly registered, etc. A private investigator could help you do that.
What you ought to look for is any notes of traffic violations. I remember looking at the last accident I had that involved police response. The officer had noted that the other person had violated a traffic ordinance, but I had not. That helped a lot with my insurance company, since it points towards fault.
Based on your account of the accident, the other guy was at fault and then left the scene. The latter is a particular no-no. If the police report doesn’t show it, then something is way wrong.
Question: Shouldn’t your insurance company be looking into this for you? Or did you not have collision insurance? If that were to happen to me (heaven forefend), my insurance company would pay my medical bills, pay for my auto damage, and then THEY would go after the perpetrator to recover the costs. In the case of my specific insurance company, they would also return to me any damages they collected that could be applied to my deductible.
was the guy ever arrested? If he wasn’t then I doubt you will ever have any idea wether he was any of the things you suggested. Even if he was arrested unless it was very soon after the accident I doubt the arresting officers would have bothered to do drug tests or anything like that. IMO you are unlikely to ever find out why he did what he did unless you find him and ask him yourself.
This is all based on my experience in California so YMMV.
First step would be to call the officer who prepared the report.
I don’t know if you are thinking about suing, but if you are, leave the investigation to your lawyer.
On the possibility of recovery for such an accident in Michigan, see my posts in this thread.
Even though, IAAMIL, I am not your lawyer and you are not my client. This is not legal advice. For legal advice on the facts of your case, you should talk to a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction.
You can call the police department and leave a message for the investigating officer. He may be able to answer your questions.
For example, he or she could explain about the “no” for alcohol. It’s probably based upon proof, which the officer did not have if the guy was not located for a day. The officer may well share opinions with you over the phone that aren’t permissable in a report.
To follow up on another post, the driver’s license status and registration would have been checked by the investigating officer and will be documented. No need to pay $$ for a private investigator for that. If you want to pursue investigation about the suspect’s whereabouts prior to the accident, a PI could do that for you, but think about what it will accomplish and ask for a fee estimate. Testimony from others that he was drinking prior to the accident is not likely to get him (charged with and) convicted of DUI.
Regarding contacting the suspect, it is very rare to get satisfaction from someone who has recklessly caused an accident like that and then fled. Those aren’t the actions of a mature, responsible, person. Also, to the extent he might be contrite, he will worry that any personal apology uttered to you will hurt him in court later.
We don’t know if he was arrested or not. That is something else the police report didn’t say and something we would very much like to know. I just assumed that since he fled the scene, that they would arrest him, but the report doesn’t give any information on that.
633squadron:It did say in the section for his vehicle that it was a hit and run, so I am presuming that was what this guy was charged with in this indicent.
Gfactor: We have no interest in suing him for damages or personal injury since nobody was injured and our car insurance is fully covering us. I just want to find out how much he is going to be penalized for this and if possible, what caused him to run the red light.
**MLS/b]: We have full coverage on the vehicle. I’m sure they are looking into the incident but beyond getting us our settlement check, I don’t know if they will get us any more information beyond what we already know.
AZRob: We have no intention of contacting this guy in person or by phone or mail for an apology (though we would love to get one from him, but I doubt he will offer one.)
I was involved in an accident last year that wasn’t my fault. Driver was in a rented U-haul truck and backed out of driveway into the street without looking. Smashed up my rear end pretty good. haha.
Fortunately (?) he was just a kid (18 years old) so I was able to intimdate him into my place of work which was just a few steps down the street and make a photocopy of his driver license. He wasn’t able to produce the rental docs, and I know that since U-haul doesn’t rent to 18 y/o kids, he was driving the truck illegally.
When he couldn’t produce the rental docs, I went around the truck literally writing down every number printed on it. Along with the copy of his ID, I filed a claim. Found completely not-at-fault. My insurance company went after U-haul, whom I assume went after the original renter. Since my deductible was $1000 and I had to pay before getting my truck back, I pitched a major bitch. A few months later I got a check for $1K from my insurance that they recovered from U-haul.
Gotta be the only time that something like this has actually worked the way it’s supposed to work.
You’re welcome. I’m curious, though. You have an accident report, like the one I linked to, yes?
You probably don’t have an incident report or a police report. If that’s the case, I’m not terribly surprised that they don’t show any follow-up by the cops. If the cops have the other driver’s name and address, they probably paid him a visit, at least. A follow-up call to the police officer is definitely the place to start.