What is the Punishment for a Hit-and-Run Accident?

For practical purposes, in criminal court, the punishment is usually nothing. Over 90 percent of these cases are closed unresolved, and in many cases, police investigators don’t try very hard to solve them. As far as most law enforcement investigators are concerned, any personal injury incidents, like a vehicle collision, is a civil matter, unless the tortfeasor (negligent driver) was drunk. Therefore, they quickly abandon hit-and-run or any other car crash investigations and move onto other matters they deem more significant.

Things are different in civil court, mostly because a tenacious Carlsbad hit and run lawyer doesn’t give up easily. Police officers may not care much about accident victims, but a personal injury lawyer cares deeply about them. So, attorneys work hard to obtain maximum compensation for your serious injuries. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Additional punitive damages may be available in hit-and-run cases as well.

Collecting Evidence in Hit-and-Run Cases

Investigators often cite lack of evidence as the official reason they drop hit-and-run cases. However, the evidence is there, and a good San Marcos personal injury lawyer knows how to obtain it.

Electronic evidence, mostly surveillance camera evidence, may be the key. If a camera anywhere near the scene caught a glimpse of the probable hit-and-run vehicle, along with a partial plate number, a San Marcos personal injury lawyer can use that crumb of information to track down the tortfeasor. More on that below.

Furthermore, in most cases, someone saw something. For various reasons, people rarely come forward at accident scenes and give official statements to police officers. They’re even more reluctant to do so if police officers knock on their doors and ask questions.

However, even the most reluctant witness usually cooperates with a personal injury attorney, especially if the victim was killed or seriously injured. These witnesses probably didn’t see the whole thing. However, they usually saw enough for a legal team to move further down the road toward fair compensation.

Underground and under-the-radar body shops often offer a treasure trove of evidence as well. Usually, hit-and-run drivers don’t take damaged vehicles to Service King. Instead, they take them to places where mechanics work on these vehicles and don’t ask many questions.

These people very rarely cooperate with police officers, usually because they have something to hide that’s independent of the wreck. But for the same reasons mentioned above, they usually open up to a lawyer.

Using Evidence in Hit-and-Run Cases

All this evidence is nice. Only an experienced lawyer knows how to put this evidence together and build a successful claim.

We mentioned electronic evidence above. In this context, locating the vehicle’s owner is just as good as pinpointing the vehicle’s driver. It’s more likely than not that the owner was driving the vehicle at the time. More likely than not (a preponderance of the evidence) is the burden of proof in civil claims.

These wrecks have an emotional dimension as well, mostly because so many jurors dislike hit-and-run drivers so intensely. If any evidence links the defendant with the hit-and-run accident, jurors usually side with victims.

Connect With a Diligent San Diego County Lawyer

Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in San Marcos, contact the Pursley Law Firm. We routinely handle matters throughout the Golden State.

Source:

psychreg.org/percentage-hit-runs-solved/