Did I do the right thing?

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Dave

Dave

Staff member
So Monday I was on my way home from work and I witnessed the following:

Traveling West on street directly behind a green Ford Taurus. I watched as a red car (make model unknown to me) pulled away from a stop sign directly into the path of the green car, which hit the red car directly on the passenger door. Bam. Red car spins violently and comes to rest in the center of the road. Green car caroms off and ends up in a deserted lot down an embankment.

I immediately pull over, put on my hazards and as I'm dialing 9-1-1 I approach the red car. The driver ( a youngish lady) says she's okay but she needs to check on her daughter in the back seat. The child is upset but says she's fine and was belted in perfectly. I then move down the embankment and make sure that the other driver is fine and she is already out of her car and says she's perfectly okay. Both cars have air bags deployed and all were wearing seat belts.

Here's where it gets weird.

The lady in the green car - who was not at fault - says she doesn't want to call the cops and that they would just exchange information. Little light went on above my head. About that time a local bar on the corner had a group of old men boil out of it to see what the commotion was (3 pm on a Monday and they were all in there drinking - I love it!). I mentioned to one of them what was going on and told him to talk to the lady from the green car. I then proceeded to the red car and noticed the driver had blood on her neck. As it was raining and I could see she was shaking I gave her my coat and took her inside the bar. I bought the little girl (about 6) a soda with a straw and tried to calm her down, although this was difficult as her mom was crying and shaking.

It was then that the old guy came in and said the lady in the green car had taken off. She just hopped in her beat-up car and drove off. The old guy had her license # for the cops so her running was a bad fucking idea. He did note that her eyes were huge and she was probably driving impaired. The lady from the red car couldn't remember anything that happened as she obviously didn't see the green car or brace for any impact.

So here's my question as to whether I did the right thing. I was the only witness!! I am the only car that stopped. Nobody in the bar saw anything. The lady in the green car ran like a rabbit and the lady in the red car had no recollection of what had happened.

When the cops came I told them exactly what had happened: the lady in the red car failed to yield - it was her fault - and the lady in the green car ran.

Should I have thrown the lady in the green car under the bus and say it was her fault? The poor lady in the red car was young, had a kid and now had a car that was completely gone. She was in a poor neighborhood and this is probably a terrible blow to her financial well-being. I know that she was licensed and insured. The lady in the green car was probably about my age, apparently driving impaired and was probably uninsured. If it went to court it would have been my word against hers and I doubt hers would have stood up.

So did I do the right thing or the wrong thing by telling the truth in this case?
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Yes, you did the right thing, if only because it covers your ass if this goes further. A conflicting story could only lead to problems down the the road, especially if it's YOU who changed the events.
 
strawman

strawman

Yes. Bolting from the scene of the accident was wrong, driving impaired was wrong, but just because she did two wrongs doesn't mean you should tack on a third.

Just because she made some bad choices doesn't mean she's a bad person who deserves worse than what she's going to get already.

So yes, you did the right thing.
 
Hylian

Hylian

You did the right thing , the duty of a witness is to state what happened and nothing else. You have no way of knowing if the green cars driver really was doing anything wrong or not. It sounds like she was but you can't be certain of that. Plus by telling the truth you are covering your own hide for later on down the road. Now you can mention your suspicion to the police officers about the green cars driver but you must remember that is all they are "suspicions" they are not facts. Even if the green cars driver was impaired in some way it was still the red cars drivers fault. Now granted if the green cars driver was impaired it could have affected her reaction time and if she wasn't maybe she could have avoided the accident. Now by running she has made herself at least suspect if not wrong in the eyes of the law at least to some extent and the cops will probably track her down for to ask her questions cause that is there job.


tl;dr: yes you did the right thing
 
Adam

Adam

No question you did the right thing. If the person was inebriated, they'll be at fault anyways. (My wife was a in a similar car accident where she pulled out in front of someone driving drunk. Technically she's at fault, but because of the DUI, she wasn't held responsible.)

Or at least that's how good cops would look at it :)
 
Piotyr

Piotyr

Truth is a good thing, because lying to the police is just going to piss them off (and might even be considered obstruction of justice).
 
D

Disconnected

you seem to have this... thing with cars and crashes.

you catpeelier you.

glad everyone is okay.
 
CrimsonSoul

CrimsonSoul

I woulda thrown the one in the green car under the bus. IMO, if they drive impared and without insurance they deserve what they get.
Added at: 11:37
but really if it goes to court all the lady in red has to do is say that is was the green cars fault, no witnesses (you don't show up) and she at least will beat the ticket hopefully
 
Frank

Frank

CrimsonSoul said:
I woulda thrown the one in the green car under the bus. IMO, if they drive impared and without insurance they deserve what they get.
Added at: 11:37
but really if it goes to court all the lady in red has to do is say that is was the green cars fault, no witnesses (you don't show up) and she at least will beat the ticket hopefully
Click to expand...
There is no evidence beyond an old drunk's opinion that she was drunk.
 
Frank

Frank

Lied? She's already fucked because she drove off. Lying to the police does no one any good. Either don't give a statement (which you are fully in your rights not to do in most places) or tell the truth.
 
Jay

Jay

Quick question.... both were or were possibly uninsured? What does that mean? Like the driving insurance or medicare?

I don't know how things are in America, but in Canada hit and run is a criminal offense and will give you jail time. I had a friend who was at fault in an accident but the other driver took off, he was caught, didn't even have car insurance and went to jail, she was considered not at fault and the insurances covered everything without her resorting in paying any penalties.

She also went to the clinic to check out a sore neck and was provide free medicine and 2 visits to the physiotherapy... all free. Like it should be.

:awesome:
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
The lady in the red car (at fault) had insurance. The lady in the green car it is unknown.
Added at: 13:30
I'd really like to know if/how I can get followup information on this.
 
Gared

Gared

Since you weren't directly involved in the accident, being only a witness, I'd think it unlikely that you'd have any chance at being kept in the loop on the investigation, unless the police need more information than you provided in your statement, come back to ask you more questions, and you ask them how the investigation is going (and they're able to provide you with the information). You may be able to watch the court system for public information releases regarding the case, if one is brought against the woman who fled the scene and if the information is made public, but I don't know. Other than that, your best bet would probably be to keep in touch with the woman from the red car whose daughter you helped settle down - but I don't really know that that's a good idea.
Chances are, if your experience is the same as mine - having been a witness in a few major collisions and a smash and grab robbery - unless the police need more details, you will never hear about this again.
Seriously, what the hell is up with paragraph spacing?
 
W

Wasabi Poptart

I think you did the right thing. The lady in the green car has screwed herself by running even though the accident was not her fault. If you lied to the police, and they found out, couldn't you technically be in trouble for falsifying a report/obstruction of justice or something like that?
 
Gared

Gared

Frankie Williamson said:
Yes, that was his fault.
Click to expand...
I liken this to all of the people bitching right now about red light cams and speed cams. Think it's evil that cash strapped cities are turning to speeding and traffic law enforcement to beef up their incomes? Tough shit. Don't want to pay a fine for speeding and/or running a red light? Don't fucking run red lights and/or speed. Hell, some dumbass around here was bitching that he can't afford to go to Mariners games, and it's all the WSP's fault because they pulled him over and cited him for not wearing his seat belt in a construction zone. Take some fucking responsibility for your own actions once in a while, and maybe we won't have to pay extra for every single thing we buy because the companies that make them have to pay for an outside safety firm to put a warning on the item advising us that it's dangerous to stop the chain of a chainsaw with our bare hands. That being said, I can certainly see a caring person feeling bad for someone possibly getting dinged on her insurance, but lying to the cops is NEVER a good idea.
 
Mathias

Mathias

Let me tell you something, Dave. You did the right thing.

As an extension to how right it was, in my line of work if you do something similar to making up a story other than what was witnessed, you can go to jail. It would have been fraudulent to have said anything but what you witnessed.

The lady in the red car will be ok. Her insurance premiums might go up, but that's the way it is. Don't make assumptions about peoples' financial situations. That is NONE of your business; nor is it your place to change the facts based on morality compromised due to those assumptions. Your job, plain and simple, is to report what you saw.


When I was younger, I was put in a similar situation. My friend and I witnessed an accident. It was raining and dusk. The BMW Suv in front of me was turning left, and -BAM- gets nailed by a dude in a beat up Honda. The dude was driving with no headlights on. I didn't see him at all until I saw the BMW's ass-end 180, 3 feet in the air. My friend (who was from a financially strapped family) automatically put bias on the lady driving the BMW; not on the guy with the Honda.

It was clearly not a one sided issue. A few weeks later my friend and I got called up to testify as witnesses. The Honda guy was suing the BMW lady. The lawyer for the BMW lady made my friend look like a total lying, asshole - thus unreliable witness. I gave my testimony that I was driving behind her and the Honda guy did NOT have headlights on in rain and at dusk. That's all I could do.
 
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