I was on the receiving end of a minor fender bender today. As the result, there will is a traffic court date set for the chick that bumped me (who got a ticket for “improper backing”).
The cop told me that if I don’t show up, the charges get dropped.
So, here’s my question, if you’re familiar with this sort of thing:
What is the point of the court appearance? She and I (and an outside witness) all told the same story of what happened.
I don’t have anything more to say for the court appearance (that I didn’t tell the cop), and as long as her insurance company pays for the damage, I don’t care about any “charges.”
I’m just a little concerned that (in my absence, since I don’t particularly care to go), she could say something that could conceivably get me in trouble.
Hmmm…some facts missing here,maybe? I don’t know why anyone would have to go to court if everyone agrees on what happened and you didn’t care about charges. She’d have to go only if she were contesting the ticket. My s.o. is a cop, and HE has to go about tickets he has issued. If he doesn’t, the ticketee gets off. I don’t know why YOU’d have to go. Don’t know where you are, but in this area (D.C.) we don’t even call the cops for a minor fender bender.
[slight hijack] Mjollnir, it wasn’t in Forest Acres, was it? A similar thing happened to me a couple of years ago. I was in an accident that was probably the fault of both of us, although I got a ticket for failure to yield from the Forest Acres police. I showed up in court, the other party didn’t. It was automatically dismissed when it was evident that she wasn’t there. I wasn’t given the opportunity to say anything, about the other person or otherwise. She’s probably only concerned about getting the charge thrown out, which will happen if you don’t show up, so I wouldn’t worry too much about her saying something bad about you. Her insurance should still take care of your damages. Does this help at all?
The reason you would have to show up in court is simply because the cop isn’t the judge.
The cop can’t tell the judge what you told him because that would be hearsay, which is defined by the Federal Rules of Evidence as “a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.” There are a lot of exeptions to the hearsay rule, in law school we spent a lot more time talking about the exceptions than the rule itself.
The cop doesn’t have personal knowledge of what happened, he wasn’t there to witness it. You were, the other driver was, but the other driver doesn’t have to testify. No witness, no proof, no conviction for “improper backing.”
Now, as to whether it’s worth your time to show up is a different question. If it happened to me, I might be ticked off enough to go to court so it would go on the other driver’s record.
D Marie: Nope. City of Columbia Water drive-thru. She was the last (or so she thought) person in a long line, and opted to park, taking her payment inside, instead.
Unfortunately, from her lofty mount inside her SUV, she didn’t notice the little Honda behind her, and as she backed up, the nut on the bottom of her trailer hitch dug a two-foot scar into my hood.
You need her to get the “improper backing” for insurance and driving records too, remember.
I’m no lawyer, but as I recall, the only crimes that a cop can immediatly go after you for (without seeing you commit it) is a felony crime. A misdemeanor is a misdemeanor is a misdemeanor is what I was told.
You can’t have a cop press charges on someone for jaywalking without you testifying as a witness, and the same would apply to the traffic accident.
Mjollnir, theat kind of depends on what country, state or city you are in…Seems strange to have to appear doesn’t it? She might try to appear in order to get rid of the citation so its not on her record & she might have been fined too, & might want the judge to reduce that.