Should I drop the charges?

In My Humble Opinion
21

She hit you, you tried to help her get out of traffic so that the two of you could discuss the legalities, she showed a frightening lack of control of her car, and she left. She left.

Whatever you do, do not drop the charges. I don’t care what age she is, she should not be driving in such a state. If I ever show that kind of lack of control and lack of consideration, I pray that it doesn’t take someone getting hurt before I get the book thrown at me.

Plus, she needs to take responsibility for her actions. She was involved in a hit and run, and nothing excuses her from that fact.

On a side note, she complained that the accident had ruined her dinner? Holy frell, you had a child in your car and she could not care less about the Sprout’s wellbeing. That alone would remove from my mind any thought of letting the hit and run aspect of the accident slide.

22

[ul]And what would you feel like if she injures or kills someone?
DO NOT DROP THE CHARGES[/ul]

23

Say, Mrs. Wang-Ka pointed out an interesting thing, as I sit here reading aloud to her…

“Let us say,” she said, "that this woman was not elderly. If you saw a woman in her thirties who rearended us twice, showed a scary lack of control of her car, and then cruised merrily away from a traffic accident at a walking pace, what would YOU suspect, my dear one?

“Um,” I replied, “I’d figure she was drunk.”

“Gee,” she said. “She did say she was out for dinner with her companion that evening, right?”

“Hm,” I thought. “Might explain why she didn’t just shut the car down and wait for the cops, too. If I had booze on my breath, and suffered a minor fenderbender, I sure wouldn’t wanna hang around, particularly if I could pass it off as being a dotty old lady… and particularly if I thought I could snow the guy into not pressing charges. And she already lied to her insurance carrier, now, didn’t she?”

“What if she’s on some kind of medication?” Mrs. W added. “Could be she had one of those two-pills-and-a-glass-of-wine, uh-oh reactions… which could also explain why she didn’t wanna hang around, and why she didn’t like the idea of the police being involved.”

“Good point. Think I’ll say something about that.”

“At any rate, I’d sure’s hell press charges. If nothing else, this woman’s kids need to know what their elderly mother is doing… and it sure sounds like she might either be a little soft upstairs at best, or at worst, she’s one of those people who thinks she can just get better insurance, and that will fix everything.”

Mrs. Wang-Ka is smarter than I am. I’d take her advice.

24

The next thing she hits might be a school bus. Broadside. Without touching the brakes.

Don’t drop 'em.

25

To paraphrase Emperor Cuzco, “No droppy.”

Becuas if she hit me next time she goes a-joyriding, I’m gonna be real pissed that you had the chance to get something done, but didn’t.

26

dont drop the charges

27

You aren’t. She did that all by her lonesome.

If you are in a state that will let you drop charges once they have been filed, don’t you dare.

The life you save could be your child’s.

28

I guess I’ll have to be the lone voice of dissent here…NOT!

Don’t drop 'em.

Haj

29

Id hate to be the one who dropped the charges and then found out she killed someone.

30

You don’t have to drop the charges to be a nice guy in my book. All you had to do was concider dropping the charges.

31

Look on this as the government’s opportunity to inform her, formally.

The only thing you should drop is the dime on Mrs. X.

32

Okay, but how about this:
The argument for pressing charges at this point revolves around what ifs and next times. The reality is that maybe she’ll have another accident, and maybe she won’t. Maybe it’ll be me that runs into a school bus while changing the radio station or sneaking a peek at the Sprout in the back seat. Should we prevent everyone from having a second accident?

Now there’s no doubt that Mrs. X blew it when she mistook the gas pedal for the brake, but I feel inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt w/r/t what happened afterwards. I don’t know if any of you have ever been in an accident, but I was pretty shaken up for about an hour afterwards, and I’m just 36. I bet Mrs. X was not functioning up to her usual standard when she murdered the flagpole and fled the scene.

As to her subsequent behavior, I imagine she’s frightened at the prospect of what could happen to her, and trying to put the best face on the facts (albeit rather unsucessfully). To be elderly and have to rely on public transportation is probably not an attractive option, and I’m sure it will increase her isolation. Should her punishment for dinging my bumper really be to have her driving priveliges revoked? I’m not even sure that’s what would happen. From what I’ve been able to find out, hit and run in the District is punishable by a fine and/or jail time up to a year. The former probably wouldn’t have much effect, and I would not want to see the latter occur. I guess a judge could revoke her license, or require her to show competence to operate a vehicle, but, again, do these punishments fit the crime?

33

Nope, that’s why they have “charges” and not “verdicts” that you can drop.

The fact is, the court may very well rule that she’s NOT a danger on the roads, that she did just have a one shot accident, and that she’ll just have her license suspended for a month, or something like that. It’s not your decision to make.

If you hit another car, EVEN if you kill someone, and are charged, that’s not in any way a guarantee that you won’t get a second chance. But the court system exists specifically to decide who deserves this second chance, and who doesn’t.

Please, don’t drop the charges. The next kid might not be so lucky as to be wrapped inside of a car and a baby seat. He might just be chasing after his ball.

34

If she was so disoriented because of her age, ALL THE MORE REASON to keep the charges. Drunk driving is a bad thing, but the drunk is not ALWAYS drunk. She is ALWAYS going to be old.

Personally, I think they should re-road test after the age of 65 evey 5 years. Most of those people can still drive, but some are losing their ability and do not compensate. (seen it) This woman ran over a curb in front of two families. Next time it may be over them. There is no “right” to drive, or else you would not need a license. It is a privilege, and your privilege ends when you endanger others.

35

Irae, no way she gets jail. A disgusting amount of repeat drunks don’t get jail when there are injuries. If she seems incoherent if front of the judge, they’ll probably plea bargain to relinquishing the license.

If you get in an accident because you’re tuning the radio, that’s one thing. You can help that. (CDs/Tapes) If she is enfeebled due to her age, she ALWAYS will be. You don’t tune the radio the whole time behind the wheel. It may be beyond her control, but you owe it to all the other people on the road.

36

She dinged it twice, no less, showing her inability to operate several thousands pounds of metal. With a “gaggle of children” nearby. Rolled into an intersection. Drove onto a sidewalk. That’s more than enough for me. People who show such obvious irresponsibility must not be allowed to drive. She keeps rolling into intersections, either she’s gonna get killed, or someone else is. You may think that there’s no reason to think she’d do anything like this again. But, on the other hand, why wouldn’t you expect her to? Benefit of the doubt has no place here.

This doesn’t even touch on her unwillingness to cooperate with you after the fact. The events of which wouldn’t matter to someone who died in an accident caused by her.

I’m sorry I sound like a pushy jerk here, but that was a truly insane sequence of events that you were involved in, and we have enough troubles and dangers on the road. You can possibly eliminate one that inarguably poses a real danger.

And what was Mr. X doing through all this?

37

I suspect that if it goes to trial, what will occur will much like what happened with my father. I was told by both the judge and the city atty. that they had NO intent of sending my father to prision. The court’s intrest was only to get him to stop driving as his Alzheimer’s had erroded his judgement to the point that he no longer possed a mature enough judgement to control a car.

In your case, it would appear that perhaps judgement has been somewhat impaired (her responses to questions, leaving the scene, evasive answers on the phone). The necessary motor skill to operate a car do seem to be of a greater concern here.

I don’t care how shook you are from an accident, anyone that does this has (lack of) control issues.

This is why I asked about senior driver programs. The state will interview and make a judgement. Here in California the DMV can limit or remove a license if necessary.

38

No. Her punishment for showing an astonishing lack of ability to control her vehicle, combined with extremely poor judgement should be losing her driving priveleges.

You said there were children there when she backed up? Oy.

39

My neighbor and her friend were walking through a store parking lot when an elderly lady had an accelerator/brake mixup. My neighbor was badly injured and her friend was pinned up against the building and died from her injuries.

I agree that you’re doing someone else a favor by taking this lady to court. She sounds a little off in the head.

40

One more vote for pressing charges. When I read the OP, I assumed the woman was drunk. Certainly she’s shown no sense of responsibility. She’s out to blame everyone else for her troubles (“ruined her enjoyment of the dinner”?! Sheesh!).

Irae, you, as far as I can tell, did nothing wrong. She made several major mistakes. This may sound cynical, but some people will get away with as much as they can for as long as she can. Actions have consequences. You’re already suffering some of the consequences of her actions; why shouldn’t she?

CJ