Hit and Run!
 

so today I was picking my friend up from the airport, and im parked at the curb soaking up the attention, when a guy in an Impala backs up into me. I get out, seriously pissed and ask for his insurance.

he goes to get it and instead drives away. theres no damage on my car whatsoever, but the cop sees what happens and almost gets run over by the fleeing driver. I get in my Z and chase him down. I get his plates and motion for him to pull over when i catch up to him, but he swerves away trying to avoid me. i chase him down more and try to run him off the road. thats when we saw that he had a small child in the passenger seat who WASNT buckled in. thats when i just dropped back, got his license plate, and reported it to the cops for the sake of the kid.

What else can i do about this? theres no damage to my car, but just because he drove off, i want to see him get owned in the biggest way possible.

These are desperate times for many people. The other driver might not have insurance, suspended drivers license, etc.

honestly, that is of no concern for me. If he had just sat there and owned up to it, since there was no damage; i really would have just said whatever and left.

the fact that he drove off brings out the vengeance in me. im out for blood.

"tried to run him off the road"

I hope you are exaggerating.... That's the stupidest thing you can do.
If he's fleeing the scene of an accident he obviously has no regard for the law... in which case he is likely to do other things you wouldn't expect (ram you shoot you etc).
I wouldn't use my new Z to try to 'run' anyone of the road.

You got his plate number. Report to police. Done.

he definitely has something to hide

guess maybe then when the cops track down his car, they might get an extra gift...

Damn, that's crazy. I'm glad your car is ok. How come the cop didn't go after him when he saw it?

Yeah seriously, if he almost got ran over ? But I agree with the others, it's not worth getting your self injured or possibly killed just to get revenge. And as you said, there wasn't any damage so it really isn't as big a deal as say he had a big truck and totalled your car then took off. You did the right thing to get his license but that's all you need. When you give it to the police tell them the story (add in that he almost killed a cop) and they will handle the rest. Tell them you'd be glad to testify and you'll get your revenge in time.

it was a harbor police cop. he was a street beat patrol. there was no way he could have run back to his car in airport gridlock and catch the guy.

I guess i kinda lost it, but i definitely had to chase him for awhile to get the plate. he was swerving all over the place trying to lose my Z. police should definitely consider using it for a patrol car.

Such a dumb move by the Impala owner. Did he really think he could get away pulling this stunt at an airport?

This is going to be a very unpopular post.

I don't know your local laws but, in most states, he complied with the law. He stopped to check on you. If there were no injuries and no car damage, he was entitled to leave. End of story. (The child seat thing is a violation, but that's not your deal.) He is fully entitled to protect himself by avoiding a confrontation with an uninjured, "seriously pissed" driver whose car isn't damaged.

On the other hand, giving chase and trying to run a guy off the road? I would drop this thing. If the police really do get involved (which I doubt), you'll be the one paying the larger penalty. In most states, you committed at least one misdemeanor and one low-level felony with a dangerous weapon. (Yes, a car is considered a dangerous weapon at law.) At the end of the day, he won't get ticketed for anything (no witnesses but you to the child seat violation) and you'll end up arrested or with a hefty fine or both.

I'm very glad for you that nobody was injured and there was no damage to your car.

(Did I mention that I figured this wouldn't be a popular post?)

Going after him to get the license = good

Trying to run him off the road = wtf?

There's no reason to confront the driver by doing and/or attempting to run him off the road. Like it was stated above, there could have been repercussions due to negligence. Even worse, he would be able to go after you in court if they see it as you trying to attack him after the incident.

Think before you act man.

no insurance maybe? it good to hear that there are no damage on the car.http://animepisodes.info/images/2aaa...dc081c6541.jpg

takimbe, I totally understand why you got pissed and am in no way trying to judge. But I want to relate something similar that happened to me years ago. A guy hit me and wouldn't stop, so I gave chase. I didn't try to run him off the road though, nor did he start weaving through traffic to get away. He just tried to outrun me, and there was no way he was going to do that as I was driving a supercharged Maxima at the time. Anyway, all I did was call 911 and inform them that I had gotten into collision and the other driver wouldn't stop, told them what road we were on, etc. He must've seen me using my cell in his mirror, because then he decided to pull over before the situation got any worse. He apologized and said he just freaked out and wasn't thinking straight when he decided to take off. So I got his insurance info and that was that. No need to get all bent out of shape or anything.

Again, I do understand why you got upset and gave chase. But just try to remember that if someone flees the scene like that, chances are they think they've got something to lose (even if they don't). And when somebody thinks they've got something to lose, that's when they could try to do you harm. At the end of the day, it's just a car. Not worth risking life and limb over.

Unless it's a Z34. A few sacrifices can be made :D

I agree with your general sentiment regarding the inappropriate-ness of the Z driver's response, but I doubt the Impala driver had any way of knowing there was no damage. For that matter, even the Z driver probably doesn't know for sure. Sometimes damage isn't obvious at first. He should pull his bumper off and look underneath to be sure. Running off instead of exchanging DL and Insurance info is a definite no-no. Around here it's common and considered acceptable to not involve the police if both parties agree to settling things between themselves after exchanging valid information, but what the Impala driver did clear qualifies as fleeing the scene of an accident, not to mention the Harbor officer could easily press for vehicular assault on an officer (actually in some states, any assault (threat/attempt) on an officer is automatically upgraded to assault+battery if the officer was in uniform or otherwise clearly identifiable, which gets you into serious felony territory).

The story sounds fishy to me in this regard. After the near-miss on the officer, I would have expected a pretty heavy police response, probably resulting in the driver being pinned down by the several police cars that are usually in the vicinity of any airport these days, which he would have alerted by radio.

I got tapped in my old volkswagen. Guy stopped, but I let him go as there wasn't any damage. turns out later there was about $400 worth of damage under the bumper cover fwiw.

I agree with all of you guys. definitely shouldnt have tried to run him off the road. what i was doing was matching his speed, keeping him between me and the center divide, so he couldnt make lance changes or exits. guess it was a heat of the moment thing, new car and all. definitely wont do that again. Also, he stopped, but didnt look at the damage. he just waited till i got out of my car, then pretended to get his insurance and drove off.

Just an update, Harbor police called me around 1 am last night to get a witness statement from me. We called 911 last night and the San Diego PD transferred the case over to Harbor Police about an hour later, who had already started a report because the harbor police officer who almost got hit radioed it in and they needed more information from me. They thanked me for getting the license plate number, make and model, and suspect description, but told me I should have stayed on scene to file a report with the police officer instead of giving chase; but if i hadnt given chase, we never would have gotten the license plate number, so it was a damned if you do, damned if you dont moment.

They told me regardless whether or not I decided to file charges, they were already planning to charge him with a hit and run and attempted assault with a deadly weapon for the close call with their officer.

I removed the front fascia and there was no damage whatsoever. I wiped off the paint from his car and my baby is still in good health :icon17:

I've heard of situations like this where someone gave chase. The guy being chased runs into another vehicle, fatally injuring the other driver. The way the law works, both the chaser and the chasee get sent to prison for reckless endangerment and manslaughter. In this type of situation it is always best to try to get the license number of the other person if you can do so in a safe manner, and let the authorities handle it from there, otherwise you could end up looking like the bad guy.

There was a situation recently here in La Habra, Ca. where a guy was on foot, running from the police. An officer was responding to the call in his car to give back-up and wasn't even in the chase yet. He crased into a mini-van killing both the husband and wife. Guess who got charged with the murders? Yep, the kid that was being chased on foot. I don't know what the outcome was, and not sure if I totally agree with the charge in this particular case, but that is how the law works. Be careful out there, and use good judgment, I know it would piss me off too, but like Semtex said, it's just a car, not worth going to prison over or hurting someone.

sorry going off topic, but Minicobra, where did you get your 15mm spacers from?


:iagree:

I agree with all your statements, I came to my senses when I saw that kid in the car. I didnt want to risk the kids safety, or my passenger's safety, so i backed off.

I agree bad things definitely would have happened if it had continued, given the way the guy was driving, despite having a child in the car. definitely a lesson learned here, although hopefully ill never have to worry about it happening again *knocks on wood*

I knew someone who was involved with a fender bender where the other driver was at fault. He let the person slide. A few weeks later he was hit with a lawsuit, and he had to pay for the damages.

PM sent :tup:

Somehow im not worried about that :rofl2: he may have a lawyer, I have a team, and they represent me for free. College best friends and former fraternity brothers ftw!

Did they REALLY tell you this? If they did, somebody was playing you. (Or are you a police officer / Internet troll trying to play the overzealous Z fans on this forum?)

1. Where there is no serious bodily injury or death, there is no offense of "hit and run." No such crime.

2. There is no such thing as an "attempted assault." (Ask anyone who has ever been a rookie police officer. "Attempted assault" is the punchline of a practical joke veteran officers like to pull on rookies. Serving a warrant for "attempted assault" is like sending the rookie mechanic on an errand to buy "muffler bearings" or "camouflage paint.")

If they really told you this stuff, they were having a good time at your expense.

I would have left out the "trying to run him off the road" bit - less criticizing, more helpful posts would have came about ;)

I'd have probably chased him down to get his tag but that'd be the end of it.

Things might be different in Tennessee, but according to California law, it is a hit and run misdemeanor if a driver fails to stop and exchange information after an accident, whether its bodily injury or just property damage.

see here:

(a) The driver of any vehicle involved in an accident resulting only in damage to any property, including vehicles, shall immediately stop the vehicle at the nearest location that will not impede traffic or otherwise jeopardize the safety of other motorists. Moving the vehicle in accordance with this subdivision does not affect the question of fault.


(c) Any person failing to comply with all the requirements of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that imprisonment and fine.

Right, there's no such thing as attempted assault, because by legal definition assault is attempted battery. In other words, threatening to kill someone, or say taking a swing at someone with a baseball bat but missing (even intentionally) is already full-on assault. And as I referred to above, around here (may vary by state) even simple assault on a police officer is automatically upgraded to battery even if you don't succeed in harming the officer.

Your wrong!
There "does not" have to be an injury, or death!
If you leave the scene, even in a "very minor fender bender", "with out exchanging information(names,addresses,insurance)". You are guilty of "hit and run"!

If this guy ran over YOU, or your CHILD. Do you think he would have stopped or kept going to try to avoid you.

If this is what the guy does over a fender bender you can only imagine what happens if he does something more serious.

I would have given takimbe +rep for P.I.T

P.I.T? i may be out of the loop. what does that mean?