Accident Update

[RyanbabZ71]

Well it has been a wk since we last heard from the police.  They have the plate number car (Ford ZX2) and know who the guy is.  Guess what the cops did.  They sent him a letter.  WTF   sent him a letter what good is that going to do.  No warrant out for his arrest (hit and run) or anything.  If he doesnt respond our insurance has to go after him

 

This is really messed up.

 

[k1500chevy97]

HMMM I thought that hit and run was a crime ???

He should be looking at some jail time and/or some stiff fines just for fleeing the scene  

[MarkD]

Man!  That Blows!

[Z71GUY]

I know what I would do, but I'm sure most on this board would not agree with me.      

[RyanbabZ71]

Z71 guy my mom is thinking like you   Trust me

[99silveradoz71]

They should be checking the car for paint transfer and other damage and citing obviously if the evidence is there(and based on the posts it is).  They should talk to this guy and get his side of the story and I know if people don't cooperate and won't talk, we've towed cars before, etc.

[Snacky]

Well, a few years back, same thing happened to me.  I ended up tracking the guy down, getting photographic evidence of the dents on his truck and paint transfer as well as video survellance of it all.

 

Police didn't do a #### thing, insurance sure as #### didn't except make me pay the uninsured motorist $250 deductable and raise my rates.

 

I did their f'ing job and not a #### thing happened.

[BlueRado]

HMMM I thought that hit and run was a crime ???

He should be looking at some jail time and/or some stiff fines just for fleeing the scene  

What he said.  I don't get it - this sucks Ryan.  ???

 

Did you talk to a detective, or maybe a supervisor, or was this just the dispatch officer reading the report to you?  I'd want to have an awful thorough explanation from them why they can't haul this guy in, or at least question him.

 

What's your insurance saying?  They have to go after him?  I don't know if IN has no fault.  If there's any chance this is gonna affect your Mom's insurance rates, I'd be maybe looking at calling a (gulp) lawyer.

 

Maybe you mentioned this in another post, but is the guy un-insured?

[RyanbabZ71]

The guy is insured.

 

This accident wont affect their (parents) rate at all.

 

What sucks is this guy could have went and got his car repaired already.

[SnakeEyeSS]

if he did, I'll go ahead and say it since no one else will

 

UN-repair it :thumb:

[RyanbabZ71]

Well some good did come out of this.  He got the letter and did contact the police and admit to it. He told the cop he is very scared (GOOD HE SHOULD BE)  He is going in tomorrow to finish the report

 

He stated my mom got out looked at her vehicle and got back in so thats why he left (mind you this is a very busy road and you cant stand in the street).  WTF he sat there for 5 more min then my mom told the cop he almost hit her when he was leaving.  The cop will decide whether or not to charge him i am guessing he wont be.

[RyanbabZ71]

Well another update

 

He met with the cops and they didnt charge him.  The cop said he did have to apologize by saturday (my mom wants a letter she wont speak to him on the phone).  He said he turned on green from the turning lane (ok how is that possible if we are the first car in the turning lane??? He would have to go into oncoming traffic).  

 

Also he has not contacted his insurance company.  My mom did contact them (progressive) and they are pretty good.  Even said a rental vehicle will be supplied (she didnt even have to ask).  They will be out to issue her a check sometime soon (if the guy ever calls his insurance).  I had to talk to insurance to tell them I wasnt injured.  

 

Amazing you can hit someone leave the scene and face no legal charges.  His rates will jump.

[General Lee 01]

(my mom wants a letter she wont speak to him on the phone).  

I kinda disagree with that. Main reason being, your mom needs to let her feelings be known to this guy, and she needs to let him know that leaving the scene was not the right thing to do.

 

 

 

 

And I got a little advice. Might piss you off but it's just my $.02, So I'll say it.

 

 

I remember how scared I was on my first accident. Don't be so hard on the guy. I know he ran and it was wrong, but he's been found and  has agreed to pay (Unless I mis-read somewhere ), it's over with, and that's as far as it needs to go, no more insults, no more "Go 'Un-fix his vehicle! ", and the like. People make mistakes, it's a part of the everyday life.

[RyanbabZ71]

Ok he was notified by the police on saturday it is now wednesday and he still hasnt contacted his insurance company.  They are paying but still he should have contacted them.  Obviously his communication skills suck.  He causes the accident and doesnt come to make sure everyone is ok then he doesnt notify his insurance company.

 

I dont think you would want my mom talking to him.  This is what she said she will tell him "I hope next time you hit a tree"   Its funny because of the way she said it.  Guess you had to be here

[TxDoc]

I notice that in Kentucky:

 

leaving the scene of an accident is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of between $20 and $2,000, imprisonment in the county jail for no more than a year, or both, or in some states is a felony that may include up to three years in jail.

 

Check with a lawyer. Something does not add up here.

 

Police officer involved in accident left scene

 

By Jim Adams and Stan Macdonald and Shannon Tangonan, The Courier-Journal

 

An off-duty Louisville police officer crashed his personal vehicle two weeks ago and walked away, but officers who picked him up several blocks away did not immediately take him back to the scene and he was never interviewed by the investigating patrolman.

 

Louisville police officials, in recent interviews with The Courier-Journal, said that the officer left the scene dazed and in search of help, and that most -- perhaps even all -- of the procedures followed by its officers were proper.

 

Some authorities on police procedure questioned the handling of the case, however. Geoffrey Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina, said the offduty officer should have been ticketed or arrested for leaving the accident scene, if any other citizen would have been charged under the same circumstances.

 

Alpert said that leaving the scene of a wreck is serious, and that the police department's explanation that the officer left to seek help ''does open the door for people to use that excuse inappropriately.''

 

And Samuel Walker, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and an authority on police accountability, said of the decision not to take the officer immediately back to the scene: ''That's wrong. That just smells of a cover-up.''

 

The crash occurred about 10:20 p.m. May 18, a rainy Friday, when off-duty Officer Reuben Highsmith slammed his 1997 Jeep Wrangler into the back of an older pickup truck parked on South First Street downtown. From almost the moment it began minutes later, the investigation of that accident was characterized by unusual police actions, a CourierJournal investigation shows:

 

* Highsmith walked away from the accident scene before investigating officers arrived, and a bystander followed him on foot, using a cellular telephone to keep police dispatchers informed of Highsmith's whereabouts. As a result, police found Highsmith walking at least three blocks from the accident scene. But Highsmith was not taken immediately back to the scene to be interviewed by the investigating traffic officer, as several city officers said is common in such situations.

 

Instead, officers took Highsmith to a fenced police parking lot downtown, where an assistant chief, Maj. Donald Burbrink, was summoned to confer with Highsmith, and with the officer who picked him up and an acting sergeant.

 

* The four officers in the parking lot did eventually return to the accident scene, with Highsmith as a passenger in one of the patrol cars -- arriving roughly 45 minutes after the accident had occurred, according to one witness.

 

But Highsmith never got out of the car -- which, according to two witnesses interviewed by the newspaper, was stopped a long distance from the accident scene. It was so distant, the witnesses said, they could not see anyone in the car other than the officer sitting behind the wheel.

 

The investigating Traffic Unit officer, Pat Timmons, never spoke with Highsmith -- and the accounts of the two witnesses and of police do not indicate that Timmons was ever told that Highsmith was sitting in the back of the patrol car.

 

Burbrink -- the highest-ranking officer at the scene -- spoke for Highsmith, providing Timmons with Highsmith's driver's license, proof-of-insurance card and explanation: Highsmith simply had been inattentive to his driving while trying to operate his portable compact disc player. That explanation, coming through Burbrink, is what Timmons wrote in the official accident report.

 

Burbrink is commander of the department's 2nd District, which covers downtown Louisville. Highsmith is a patrol officer assigned to that district.

 

* Timmons has said in a letter to his superiors that Burbrink stated at the scene that Highsmith had drunk a beer before the wreck, according to sources in the department. Nevertheless, Timmons' official accident report states that Highsmith was not suspected of drinking, and that no sobriety or breath tests were administered.

 

Burbrink said in an interview with The Courier-Journal on Tuesday that he never told Timmons that Highsmith had had a beer. Burbrink said Highsmith had not been drinking at all.

 

Highsmith did not respond to reporters' messages left at his residence and with the police department.

 

Helene Kramer, spokeswoman for the department, said that police Chief Greg Smith's preliminary review of the statements and evidence in the case shows that the department ''has absolutely no reason to believe that this officer had been drinking alcohol.'' The chief is still reviewing why officers initially took Highsmith to the police parking lot, rather than to the accident scene, Kramer said.

 

Kramer said she believed Smith had just learned of the incident on Tuesday, the day the newspaper began asking commanding officers in the department about it. But ''at this point,'' she said this week, the police handling of the accident ''does not appear to call for ''an internal investigation.

 

Timmons declined to discuss the Highsmith accident with a reporter.

 

Shortly after the wreck, the newspaper has learned, Timmons -- concerned about the handling of the accident at the scene -- consulted with an attorney, Robert Haddad. Haddad confirmed this week that Timmons called him, but said that he could not comment on anything Timmons said.

 

Highsmith's accident is the second in the past six months involving a Louisville police officer in which questions arose about the investigation. Last Dec. 9, Officer Natalie M. ''Shelly'' Cunningham was charged with drunken driving after she wrecked her cruiser on an interstate ramp, but she was not delivered to the Jefferson County Jail, where the formal Breathalyzer test is administered, until 3 1/2 hours after the arrest. Cunningham pleaded guilty to a first offense of driving under the influence on Jan. 11. In pleading guilty, Cunningham agreed to complete an alcohol-education program and surrender her driver's license for 30 days. She was given a 20-day suspension by the department.

 

In cases involving police officers, the question that must be answered -- according to Dan Carlson, associate director of the Center for Law Enforcement Ethics in Richardson, Texas -- is, ''How would a citizen be treated in that situation?''

 

''Would a citizen be given the same treatment as the officer? If the answer is no, the question becomes, 'Why not?' '' Carlson said.

 

Carlson said that officers involved in accidents are subject to investigation and that ''at minimum, officers should be held to the same degree of accountability as citizens.''

 

''Even the appearance that an officer is treated differently raises questions,'' Carlson said.

 

Leaving the scene ''like nothing ever happened''

 

At least one person witnessed the immediate aftermath of the accident.

 

Stephen Orsetti of Owensboro, Ky., said in an interview with a reporter that he was standing on the sidewalk near the Ronald McDonald House, 550 S. First St., when he heard the crash.

 

The front end of a Jeep was rammed into the back end of an unoccupied pickup truck. Highsmith, alone in the Jeep, had been traveling on First, which is one-way southbound, and had struck the rear passenger side of the pickup, which had been parked on the east side of First just north of Chestnut Street.

 

Robert Rozier of Louisville, owner of the 1978 Chevrolet truck, said in an interview that his pickup was struck with such force that it was driven into a utility pole and shoved forward a full car's length. When he showed reporters the unrepaired truck, it bore scrapes from the utility pole along almost its entire driver's side.

 

Orsetti -- who was at the Ronald McDonald House because his child was hospitalized in Louisville -- said he reported the accident on his cell phone. Police received a call about the accident at 10:22 p.m.

 

Orsetti said that he crossed the street, expecting to find the driver of the Jeep injured, but saw no blood or visible injuries on the man sitting in the driver's seat. Nevertheless, the man said nothing to him. ''I told him four times to shut it (the engine) off. He did not respond,'' Orsetti said. Finally, Orsetti said, he reached into the vehicle and shut the engine off himself.

 

Orsetti said that a car driven by a woman had stopped at the scene immediately after the accident, and that after the wrecked Jeep's engine was off, the man got out of the Jeep and then climbed into the woman's nearby car. Because of their interaction, Orsetti said he assumed the woman and man were friends. After sitting in the car about two minutes, the driver got out of the woman's car and began walking east on Chestnut, and the woman drove off. Police had not yet arrived.

 

(The accident report makes no reference to a female witness, and in an interview this week, police Lt. Col. Ed Blaser, the commander of operations, said he was unaware of such a witness and was interested in finding out who she was and what she might know. Later in the week, Kramer, the department spokeswoman, said that Highsmith said the woman was a good Samaritan, and that he did not know who she was.)

 

As the driver of the wrecked Jeep walked east on Chestnut, Orsetti said, he followed him on foot because ''if it was my vehicle (that had been struck), I'd have wanted him picked up and arrested for it.''

 

Orsetti, using his cell phone, called police multiple times to report the man's location as he continued to walk generally toward the east. Orsetti identified the man to dispatchers as a black man in a tan shirt and tan shorts -- Highsmith is African American -- and reported him to be first passing Brook Street; then reported him to be walking near the Kosair Children's Hospital emergency room; and then reported him to be walking on Abraham Flexner Way passing Floyd Street.

 

During all of this, Orsetti said, the man's gait was normal, ''like nothing ever happened.''

 

Orsetti said he was still following the man when police located him, and he saw him get in a police car past what Orsetti described as ''the University of Louisville health center.'' Orsetti returned to the accident scene, where Timmons had arrived and started his investigation.

 

''He was not seeking medical attention''

 

City officials' explanations for why Highsmith walked away from the scene are contradictory.

 

Burbrink, in an interview this week, said: ''He walked away to go try to get some medical attention, at least what he thought was medical attention. He was heading toward the hospital.'' Burbrink said Highsmith didn't have a cell phone with him, ''so he walked away.''

 

Burbrink said Highsmith had no visible injury, but he was told by other officers that Highsmith was ''dazed'' after the crash.

 

Kramer, the police spokeswoman, said that she understood that Highsmith had bumped his head, possibly on the Jeep's dash, but that in walking away, ''he was not seeking medical attention, based on what we understand.'' He was, nevertheless, trying to get ''some help with his situation,'' she said -- although precisely what form of help was unclear. According to what Orsetti told dispatchers, Highsmith walked past both Norton and Jewish hospitals.

 

Asked if Highsmith ever went to a hospital the night of the accident, Burbink said, ''Not to my knowledge.''

 

Blaser, Burbrink's boss, said Burbrink called him from the accident scene and told him that Highsmith ''walked a block away and came back. It's not unusual, if someone is jarred or struck.''

 

It also is not unusual for people who leave a scene under such conditions to not be charged, city officials said.

 

''Why should he be charged?'' Burbrink asked. ''We don't charge people with leaving the scene of an accident (under such circumstances). . . . We don't charge people who come back -- who leave the scene of an accident with somebody and come back -- we don't charge them. So why would we charge him with this?''

 

Blaser said that he had understood from Burbrink that Highsmith had ''flagged down a police officer, who drove him back to the scene. Now, that's what he (Burbrink) told me that night.''

 

Blaser said charges of leaving the scene -- or hit and run, as it's sometimes called -- are usually brought when someone tries to deny he was driving a vehicle or to hide some fact from police. In this case, he said, no one has told him that any such thing occurred.

 

Asked if an average citizen picked up by police after leaving an accident scene can avoid a hit-and-run charge by saying he was merely going for help, Kramer said that is ''a pretty good explanation if the person didn't go too far. It happens all the time.''

 

Leaving the scene of an accident is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of between $20 and $2,000, imprisonment in the county jail for no more than a year, or both.

 

''They're afraid he's going to get locked up by Timmons''

 

Even though city officials said that this was not a hit and run, Burbrink said that officers did not take Highsmith back to the scene precisely because of worry over that issue: They were afraid Timmons would charge him with leaving the scene.

 

Burbrink said he was called to a parking lot -- a large lot on Liberty Street between Eighth and Ninth streets -- to meet Officer Jeff Wardrip, the acting sergeant on duty in the 2nd District that night; Brian Hellinger, the officer who picked Highsmith up in the medical center area; and Highsmith.

 

To get to the lot on West Liberty from the hospital zone, where Hellinger found Highsmith, one would have to drive past or near the accident scene, and then eight blocks beyond it.

 

Asked why they did not take Highsmith back to the scene to speak with Timmons, Burbrink said, ''Because (at that point) they're afraid he's going to get locked up by Timmons for leaving the scene of an accident.''

 

Asked why they did not leave that decision to Timmons, Burbrink said: ''Because they didn't want to. They wanted me to make that decision. I'm the commanding officer, I'm the one that's going to be making the decision on that, so that's what they wanted to do.''

 

Highsmith himself was also concerned about a possible charge, Burbink said. ''He was afraid, so I was there to remedy his fears,'' the major said. Asked how he remedied Highsmith's fears, Burbrink said: ''I told him he wasn't going to get locked up. I told him, 'Let's go back to the scene, and let's get this thing taken care of.' ''

 

Kramer, the police spokeswoman -- asked if any citizen picked up after leaving the scene of an accident could ask to be taken to a neutral location to speak to a commanding officer, instead of being taken back to the scene -- said any citizen could do so.

 

She also said that there is apparently a ''personality conflict'' between Timmons and Highsmith, and that when Highsmith learned Timmons was the investigating officer, Highsmith had ''a professional concern that he (Timmons) might overreact.'' Kramer said she did not know the exact nature of the personality conflict.

 

Wardrip and Hellinger declined requests for interviews.

 

Also while at the parking lot, Burbrink said, he determined, drawing on his experience as an investigator, that Highsmith had not been drinking. ''There was no reason to do a field sobriety test. I talked to him. He had not been drinking,'' Burbrink said.

 

Charles J. Key, a Virginia-based police consultant who served 27 years with the Baltimore Police Department, said Highsmith should have been taken back to the accident scene immediately.

 

''The idea of going off somewhere and having a private discussion would at least create the appearance of impropriety,'' Key said.

 

Witness: Officer was kept at a distance

 

After the four officers had met in the parking lot, they headed toward the accident scene.

 

Rozier, the pickup owner, had been attending a 25th-wedding-anniversary party in a banquet room nearby at 101 W. Chestnut. He came outside at 10:30 p.m. and discovered the accident scene. He said he was still outside when a caravan of police cars arrived at the scene about 11 p.m. or a little later.

 

He said the car containing a tall, plain-clothed officer -- Burbrink -- pulled close to Timmons' car on First. But the rear car -- the one containing Highsmith, which apparently was driven by Hellinger -- stayed well back from the accident scene, according to both Rozier and Orsetti, the accident witness from Owensboro.

 

Rozier returned to the scene with a reporter this week and pointed out the spot where he said that car stopped. A reporter measured it at about 150 feet from the accident site.

 

That's significant because of the question of whether Timmons had access to Highsmith, to question him about the accident and to assess his sobriety.

 

Burbrink said that Rozier and Orsetti are wrong -- that the car containing Highsmith and driven by Hellinger parked ''even with my car'' on First and not farther away.

 

Timmons could have seen Highsmith sitting in the car, Burbrink said. At one point, Burbrink said, he (Burbrink) delivered Highsmith's CD player to him while Highsmith was seated in Hellinger's car. Also, Burbrink said, Wardrip walked to the car to ask Highsmith where he wanted his Jeep towed, and then reported Highsmith's wishes back to Timmons and Burbrink.

 

''All you have to do is look,'' Burbrink said. ''There's two people in the car.''

 

But Rozier said it was not so simple, because of the distance. He said he saw the tall, plain-clothed officer take the CD player to the rear patrol car, but it was so far away that he could see only the officer sitting behind the steering wheel. Orsetti said it appeared to him that the tall officer handed the CD player through a window of the distant police car.

 

Because the CD player was delivered to that car, both witnesses said they assumed that the driver of the Jeep was inside that police car. But Rozier said he never was told that the driver who walked away was an officer, and never saw the driver.

 

A reporter asked Burbrink twice if he ever told Timmons that Highsmith was in Hellinger's car, and both times he did not directly answer the question, but replied that Timmons should have known, because of the car's position and the activities around it.

 

''Do I have to write everything down? Do I have to tell him? This is a 25-year veteran,'' Burbrink said of Timmons.

 

Blaser said it's his understanding -- from a letter written by Burbrink -- that Timmons simply chose not to interview Highsmith. Blaser said Burbrink reported that ''he'd brought him (Highsmith) back to the scene and he was sitting right there in the car and that he (Timmons) did have an opportunity. . . . And he chose not to interview him.''

 

Asked if it was appropriate for Timmons to fill out the official accident report using information passed to him by Burbrink, Blaser said such procedures are followed.

 

Blaser said he was in charge of a special traffic unit at one time, and ''I was brought to a lot of scenes to do exactly what you said, to talk to people. I was the CO, and I'm the one that intervened. . . . There are a lot of circumstances where another person, normally a commanding officer, will make the decision.''

 

Key, the Virginia consultant, questioned why Burbrink would speak on Highsmith's behalf to Timmons. ''If it's so simple, that it's simply inattention to his driving or reaching for something, then why couldn't he (Highsmith) tell that to the traffic investigator? Why does the major have to tell that to the traffic investigator?''

 

Key, who is a frequent witness for police departments, said Timmons should have been given the chance to observe Highsmith's demeanor if alcohol was a possible factor in the crash. ''The officer has the obligation to to do other things, administer a Breathalyzer or a balance test,'' Key said.

 

 

 

 

 

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP

 

Man arrested after accident on U.S. 6

 

A driver who was arrested after leaving the scene of an accident Thursday told officers he left because he was "scared."

 

The accident occurred at 2:40 p.m. Thursday on U.S. 6 near County Road 125 West. According to the Porter County Sheriff's Department, a Ford pickup truck driven by Morgan Lane of Valparaiso was traveling westbound.

 

Lane stopped for another vehicle that was turning, and her truck was struck in the rear by a Ford Mustang driven by Michael B. Balich of Westville. Neither driver was injured.

 

Police said Balich fled the scene, and went east on U.S. 6. Officers located his vehicle, and pulled Balich over. Balich told officers he had left because he was scared.

 

Balich, 20, of 669 E. County Road 950 N., Westville, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident.

 

 

 

http://www.state.in.us/judiciary/opinions/...021903.rdr.html

 

 

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