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spiro94 · Oct 27, 2008, 08:54 PM

Last week in CA my husband became hit & run victim. He did not see the actual accident, however remembers the description of the vehicle involved. There were and witnesses. The cop got all of the info on suspect from the pharmacy where he got the prescription. However he called us 2 days later and told us that can not reach the other party. Today, I called the police & spoke with sergeant who asked the same cop to contact me. I got the lectured by the cop that I should not be calling the sergeant and that he can not really discuss this with me as I am not the party. I told him that it makes I hard to believe that police can not reach the person involved. He told me that the suspect is in business trip in England and he will call me husb as soon as he will get any info. Amazing, but 3 hours later he called us back & suddenly, he was able to speak with the other party & of course he denies the accident & cop will be insoecting his car tomorrow.My concern is how will we be able to prove the accident if he for example fixed his car? Do you have any idea what should we do?

this8384 · Oct 28, 2008, 01:53 PM

I'm sorry for your misfortune and I hope your husband is doing all right. While I can understand your frustration with the situation, I have to agree with the officer; calling his superior didn't do anything to aid the investigation and it only made the him look bad.

If the suspect did have his car fixed, then it's going to be hard to prove that he did it unless you can somehow find a receipt showing that he had the repairs performed after your husband was struck.

Fr_Chuck · Oct 28, 2008, 06:14 PM

Well in all things you are lucky most hit and run without a tag number will never be found.

But how was the ID made, how do you know this was the person ? If it is good evidence you sue the person for the damages, they police ID is just to issue a ticket.

spiro94 · Oct 28, 2008, 09:51 PM

Thank you guys for the answeres. I actually did not complain about the cop, and you will later I think I did the right thing by caling. Yesterday in the morning he told me that the guy is in England, but after I spoke with him(the cop) & expressed my feeling about this, he had called my husb 3 hours later & stated that he located the suspect & will take a look at the car tomorrow (today). The cop called this morning & guess what? The guy admitted the accident is his fault. That was a rental car from enterprise & he had purchased insurance from them, however since it was a hit & run their insurance automatically cancelled. Now I have to sue him... I actually felt bad about the oficer & was going to call back o his sup & explain that I never said anything bad about him & never complained, however after the person "magically appeared", I see that he just was not doing his job. He kept telling me that I have the insurance & I should just "eat it".
Will take care of it now. Thanks to bith of you

excon · Oct 29, 2008, 05:50 AM

Hello spiro:

I, contrary to my learned colleagues, believe that you absolutely should have complained about the cop. In fact, maybe it was your call that got the favorable results you wanted.

I certainly wouldn't call to apologize either. I'm sure they're both down at the doughnut shoppe stuffing their pie holes.

excon

ScottGem · Oct 29, 2008, 07:56 AM

If the insuracne carrier for Enterprise is denying the claim, you can file a claim against the driver's regular carrier. Most policies cover driving other cars. They may be able to get use the hit and run aspect to not cover which means you still have to sue the guy, but its worth a try.

Is the guy being prosecuting for leaving the scene?

this8384 · Oct 29, 2008, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by spiro94

Thank you guys for the answeres. I actually did not complain about the cop, and you will later I think I did the right thing by caling. Yesterday in the morning he told me that the guy is in England, but after I spoke with him(the cop) & expressed my feeling about this, he had called my husb 3 hours later & stated that he located the suspect & will take a look at the car tomorrow (today). The cop called this morning & guess what? The guy admitted the accident is his fault. That was a rental car from enterprise & he had purchased insurance from them, however since it was a hit & run their insurance automatically cancelled. Now I have to sue him.... I actually felt bad about the oficer & was going to call back o his sup & explain that I never said anything bad about him & never complained, however after the person "magically appeared", I see that he just was not doing his job. He kept telling me that I have the insurance & I should just "eat it".
Will take care of it now. Thanks to bith of you

I suppose it's all a guess right now as to what happened; the cop may have just been lounging around or maybe he really wasn't able to find the suspect until 3 hours later... weirder things have happened. Either way, I'm glad everything worked out for you and I hope your husband is feeling better. You're very fortunate that he(the suspect) seems to be somewhat honest; he may have left the scene of the accident, but he could have returned the rental and denied that he ever had the car which would leave the officer with nothing to go on.

Also, as Scott pointed out, the suspect should be given at least one citation. I know in Wisconsin he could have received multiples; failure to notify police of an accident, inattentive driving, hit and run...

this8384 · Oct 30, 2008, 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by excon

Hello spiro:

I, contrary to my learned colleagues, believe that you absolutely should have complained about the cop. In fact, maybe it was your call that got the favorable results you wanted.

I certainly wouldn't call to apologize either. I'm sure they're both down at the doughnut shoppe stuffing their pie holes.

excon

I don't know, ex. Sure, I'll make the jokes about smelling bacon and doughnuts and all that, but all the cops I've encountered are pretty decent. My husband lost his keys about a week ago and someone turned them in; when we figured out where they were, the cop on duty actually drove them over to my house(needless to say, we live in a relatively crime-free area).

I've just got a thing about going over people's heads. If the cop was totally ignoring her calls or refusing to give her any information whatsoever, I'd say definitely call his sergeant. But that's just me :)