<p>Wait a sec. The old rule of thumb is your body metabolizes one ounce of alcohol per hour- that’s one drink/hour. No one knows how long since he’d had a drink. You all seem to be speculating that he was tipsy at the time of the accident. Cop did not think so, period. Maybe this is just a kid who had an accident and let his buddy go home. </p>
<p>Mom was asking for some grounds to make her decisions. Our info and anecdotes vary according to our states’ regs.</p>
<p>I’m not speculating that he was tipsy. I’m just saying that I wouldn’t automatically assume that causing an accident and having a couple of drinks are completely unrelated.</p>
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<p>The passenger took the car and left the scene, correct? If the driver was intoxicated at all, surely he was the least intoxicated of the two, which is why he was driving. So I’d be concerned, as a police officer (which I’m not), if I thought that someone else who was more intoxicated got behind the wheel and removed the car from the scene.</p>
<p>I would be immensely disturbed if my D got behind the wheel of a car after even one drop of alcohol, regardless of her legal BAC. Drinking and driving = bad bad bad.</p>
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<p>No you weren’t. You were looking for confirmation, and you don’t like the advice that you were given. You wanted to hear that “Someone I know” (apparently your son), can go to court without a lawyer, “plead NG”, and have the case thrown out. You don’t want to get stuck with legal fees-- which you rightly anticipate will probably be more than the cost of care repair.</p>
<p>I have no idea how they do things in your state, but in my state if you show up to court and enter a “not guilty” plea, they give you another court date to come back for a trial. Then they bring in the police officers to testify. </p>
<p>Given that “Someone” is age 22, I suppose the bottom line is that he should be the one to make the decision as to whether or not to get a lawyer. If you are advising him that he doesn’t need one, you are giving bad advice. But if your concern is about cost… well, maybe it’s not your problem. Perhaps “Someone” should be doing his own research and decision-making at this point.</p>
<p>There are specialists who have the expertise to reconstruct an accident. That is but one reason that you do not leave a the scene of an accident. The passengers and those blessed witnesses are imperative in understanding how the accident happened.</p>
<p>OP: Sorry you don’t like the advice but when one starts a question with: Do I need legal advice? the answer is generally yes. As to the question of how much a lawyer charges for traffic court/drunk driving/leaving the scene etc. alot.</p>
<p>(My husband does NOT do this…but we know a few who do.)</p>
<p>After an accident, take a pad or piece of paper out and get witnesses’ names and contact info–don’t just rely on police report. Use your phone camera to take a bunch of photos of everything. Too, video cameras are all over the place now–check with area businesses to get any recorded video of accident. Too, if you need legal advice–talk to an attorney!</p>
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Since the OP seems to have left the thread - </p>
<p>I reread the OP’s posts on this and there’s nothing to indicate the accident was anywhere close to severe enough that a specialist or CSI or anyone is going to analyze the scene. It may have been a minor fender bender although the OP doesn’t explicitly state that but the police were there and apparently checked out both cars as well as the driver. </p>
<p>The OP stated the car shouldn’t have left the scene and isn’t arguing about that - the OP was just wondering about the wording and intent of the statute. </p>
<p>The police already checked the driver regarding the alcohol and if it all went down as stated in the posts he must have been under the limit although personally I don’t think anyone should drive if they’ve even had a drop of alcohol. </p>
<p>I’m not sure if a lawyer is appropriate for this or not since the OP’s ‘friend’ isn’t charged with a DUI and is already admittedly at fault in the accident so his insurance will need to pay up and he’ll have to pay the deductible for his car if he gets it fixed. Maybe he should just go and plead not guilty since ‘he’ didn’t leave the scene which is what the charge is. This isn’t a technicality - it’s a fact that the driver didn’t leave the scene and assuming that the driver isn’t disputing fault there’s not a lot more to it. But - I’m not a lawyer so the OP shouldn’t put much credence in what I say on this point.</p>
<p>I hope the OP will come back at some point and let us know how it all worked out since otherwise it leaves us all hanging and besides, we might all learn something.</p>
<p>The OP mentioned that the driver may have had a few drinks. And although, according to the OP no breathe test…that is a bingo.</p>
<p>Logically, if the statute says it is sufficient to leave a note on the damaged property with your name phone number, and then leave the scene when the owner of the damaged vehicle or property is not present -( go back and read the OP which includes the statute) , it should be more than sufficient for the driver to personally stay on the scene even if the car leaves. However, as we have learned, in the legal arena, logic does not always apply.</p>
<p>^OP’s statute is found online, but so is the wording I found, for the same reg. She orig asked if we interpreted her quote as she did. My comment was that it depends on which version holds and whether “stop the car” means stop and leave it nearby…or doesn’t cover the whereabouts of the car at all, as long as you are not blocking traffic. (This is one of the great curiosities and pleasures in law. You read it, as written, but then have to figure the intent- and different tiers of the court system can end up with different interpretations.)</p>
<p>The judges of the intent behind the law were, first, that cop, and next, the judge. Our personal curiosity about why this or that, our hopes that our kids won’t drink and then drive, or let a friend drive away, or what our various states expect depending on public road vs private property or $X damages or whether the cop was strutting his authority …is just our chat.</p>
<p>He could lose his license for 6 months. That changes it from a simple, “Oh, Drat, I might get points.” I’d imagine she’s freaked. I’m not an attorney, but when D1 got a minor scratch while driving a friend’s car, I tried the same research. Different specifics, but same reaction in your gut. I’ll bet she already chewed him out. I hope things work out.</p>
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Er… what do people think happens when someone “pleads” not guilty?</p>
<p>Of course he should plead not guilty if he doesn’t feel that the charge is right. </p>
<p>The net result for most people who plead “not guilty” is that they end up being found “guilty” after a hearing or trial in front of the court.</p>
<p>If it were my kid, I would definitely get a lawyer accustomed to dealing with such things. The kid did not in fact leave the scene, and does not deserve to have the charge hanging around his neck for the rest of his life. Depending on the innate sense of justice of prosecutors and police and judges has landed many an innocent person in jail. In this case, they may be so accustomed to dealing with people who are trying to get away with something that they assume that he falls into that category. (As, one might point out, do some posters here. :rolleyes: ) Not EVERYONE who is charged with something is guilty. Personally, I would not throw my kid to the wolves in these circumstances in order to “teach him a lesson” of some kind.</p>
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Yes. 4+ years past the age of majority. What does “Someone” think he should do? Or is he leaving it all to his mother to figure out?</p>
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<p>I got hit from behind many years ago and the other guy didn’t have his documents and told me so. This was about 1/4 mile from a police station. We pulled over, exchanged info and an officer came over, asked if everything was okay and then just left. I’m pretty sure that the police have other things to deal with outside of minor accidents. If they had to investigate every minor accident, policing costs would go up.</p>
<p>Around here, they wouldn’t even be able to do so during or just after a snowstorm when there are large numbers of weather-related accidents.</p>
<p>CTTC, "someone"has not been around as long as his mother and might be dumb enough to take his chances. Maybe mom VOLUNTEERED. Maybe you would be willing to stand back and not advise your child or friend, but I don’t think this is a good situation to just let him handle on his own.</p>
<p>I do believe he’d have called some lawyer advertising somewhere or something. He knows he didn’t leave and doesn’t want to lose his license over this. He’s smart enough to ask what to do and young enough that he still needs some protecting.</p>
<p>If he were a lowlife, non-working loser he’d get a free public defender then he wouldn’t need anybody’s help to find a lawyer or figure out what to do.</p>
<p>I don’t mind the points of view being expressed to some degree as they sometimes contain good advice or point out angles I hadn’t thought of. I do not care for the self-righteous attitudes of those whose kids would never do such a thing. I was not asking for commentary on whether he made the right choice, if he has had bad parenting, or quite frankly anything about WHAT HAPPENED, I was asking advice on what he should do NOW that is has happened.</p>
<p>I’ll post back after this is resolved for those of you who care. I don’t need to be bashed anymore for what I view as a dumb mistake and I’m sorry I asked for anybody’s interpretation of the law…which I put in my original post.</p>
<p>Is this young man still in college? If so, is income will be fairly low and he can get a public defender. </p>
<p>And hey as for asking parents for help, it’s what humans do, we ask those with more or different experiences to assist us. Gee my husband is 54 and he still asks me for guidance in certain areas, gasp the thought of looking for advice as somehow a sign of immaturity is really strange, </p>
<p>Anyway, the driver may be able to get some cheap or free legal advice before having tom hire a lawyer. </p>
<p>He wasn’t cited for drinking, so that’s a non issue.</p>
<p>He didn’t leave, his car did, and it was readily available for inspection.</p>
<p>The other driver didn’t call thepolice and seemed fine with car leaving.</p>
<p>Tis will probably go away, but you need to have all your ducks in a row</p>
<p>The idea that an 18 yr old is a fully-formed adult who should never ask his parents for advice or help never fails to amaze me. Or a 22 yr old, for that matter. Hell, my mother is 89 and I am 59 and I just got off the phone with her. I ask her for advice, she asks me. We are FAMILY, and that is what FAMILY does.</p>
<p>Yup. There’s been some “neck craning at the scene” here. A little bit of Holier than Thou. It’s happening on several threads. Must be the heat.</p>
<p>Son received a “leaving the scene” ticket after a minor bump in the school parking lot with a girl in one of his classes. It turns out that in our state you must contact police no matter how minor the accident. She did and he didn’t, so he got a ticket. Lawyer cost us $750 to plead down to an illegal parking violation, plus the fine and court costs. He could have gotten a lot of points, but would not have lost his license unless he had future infractions… I am sure we would have paid far more than $750 in increased insurance premiums if we hadn’t used the lawyer and he ended up with any points.</p>