How do you think a hit and run should be handled?

Here's what happened.

My ladyfriend was driving along and a firetruck was comming up behind her so she pulled over to the right. The girl behind her started to pull over as well, but she slid on the leaves and whacked my ladyfriend in the back. My ladyfriend gets out of her car and as she does, the girl who hits her takes off. My girl hops in her car, calls 911, and starts chasing her. The dispatcher told my girl to stop chasing and once she gave the dispatcher the other girls tag number she stopped chasing.

That's it ... it's over. The cops never show up and nothing is done at all. The dispatcher told my ladyfriend to go to the police station and fill out a report. Bottom line, nothing is going to happen from here. It falls into the $hit Happens catagory and it SUCKS !!!

This stuff happens here all of the time. People drive, hit, run, and get away with it. It even happened to me once !!

How / what do you think should happen from here?

Do you think you have every right to put someone in a wall if they hit and run?

Do you think you should get in trouble for doing so?

How do yo tink it should be handled KNOWING that nothing is going to be done by the po-po? Even if they DO go after and find the girl, all they are going to do is give her a ticket and maybe revoke her license. She won't have insurance, and you'er never going to get a nickel out of her. SUCKS !!! [:@]

What do you think?

 

well, i dont know how it works in your area, but arround here if you get their tag number, they will goto the house listed on that tag and examine the vehicle, if hte vehicle appears to be damaged they will issue a citation for a hit and run, From there you can take the report and take the person to court and make them pay for it in that mannor.my guess is that the cops in ur area are too lazy.

 

if you reported the tag number it should all be well takin care of....

 

That sucks dude

 

I'm sure it's similar in our area. IF the cops go to the house, they'll find the car and it'll be whacked, however you'll never get a nickle out of the girl. If she had money, she'd have insurance. You can't put a lean on her apartment. They won't take her car, so even though they gave her a ticket ( which she'll never pay ) she's free to continue to drive. You don't need a license to put gas in a car and drive. The only people who need a license are people with a concience.

 

Regardless, law enforcement should have shown up and taken the report. Since they didnt, all your friend can do is file the report after the fact. Not sure how it works up there, but the dispatcher was right in telling her to stop following, as long as the tag number was correct. Most of the time citizens will think they have the right tag number but when its run, it doesnt come back to anything and then she is screwd. If the tag is right, your local LE agecy needs to do an investiagtion. Here in FL, leaving the scene of an accident with or w/o property damage is criminal, not a ticket but jail. Also if the person doesnt have insurance, theres not a whole lot you can do besides filing a civil suit. There are a few other things that are in the process but thats the jist of it.

 

Well ... I knew it

My ladyfriend went to file the report and was told basically, they weren't going to do anything else about it and that that is why she has insurance. The cop told her that they don't have the man power to do anything and that they won't be doing anything. When my girl freaked out, the cop told her that he was doing HER a favor by not writing her a ticket for 85.00 for not having her registration signed.

Can you effing bellieve that ?!?!? [:@]

I know things are handled differently everywhere else, but here in Philly nothing is going to be done.

So SCREW what is "right and wrong" !! At this point I think I'd rather be judged by a jury of my peers. Since the entire jury has probably either experienced the same thing or has at least heard of it happening to a friend of theirs, I don't think I'd ever get convicted.

 

Dude, that really bites. The system sometimes truly is broken. Law abiding folks get the shaft, while criminals walk away.

 

call the cops and tell them someone is shooting at you in your car, they have already shot someone on thus-and-such street and are after you. . .give them a description of the car, tag number and where you are. once the cops arrive give them the real scoop

 

If you find out who the driver is you could probably file a civili suit against her. In most states they call it small claims court. Here the Maryland District Court handles small claims (up to $10,000), and I filed a claim against a guy a few years ago. It's a bit of a hassle, but not really that hard for the average person to file a claim. Get your ladyfriend's car fixed first so you know the exact amount of damages. If you get a court judgement and the defendant doesn't pay, then you can get a collection agency to hound her and even get it in her credit report.

It sucks that your local cops won't do anything. Are you talking about the Philadelphia Police Dept? I've heard stories about them.

I'm not totally opposed to people taking the law in their own hands, but you also have to pick your battles. Take a few hours/days to cool off; this issue isn't worth you falling on your sword and possibly losing your civil liberties. You're talking about bent sheet metal and ruffled feathers. It sucks, but if I was you I would use legal action only in this matter. I always tell myself that living well is the best revenge.