<p>
I’d find the story a lot more credible if the girl had a name.</p>
<p>If it truly was an “accident” that went down the way the son related to his mom, then the girl has nothing to be ashamed of and there would be no reason for anyone to conceal her identity. On the contrary, a responsible parent would want to know in case the girl had injuries that only became apparent later on. </p>
<p>Yes, any time there is impact (like to a light post or leaving the road to drive on grass), there can be latent injuries. It would be good to check with everyone who was in the car to be sure everyone is ok. </p>
<p>I have never driven a truck and have no idea how well or poorly I might drive it, especially when it’s late, I’m tired and people who have been drinking any be saying distracting things to me.</p>
<p>None of us know what the road conditions were that evening–whether there was any ice, wet roads, snow, what the lighting was, etc. </p>
<p>Driving while overly tired can be as bad as any other form of impaired driving, even if no alcohol is involved. </p>
<p>Oh, come on. They slewed into a pole and knocked off the side-view mirror. This could be accomplished at well under 5 mph. </p>
<p>This reminds me of one of those classic CC threads where the kid gets a C average first term in college or hasn’t decided on a major and some people immediately say that the kid ought to withdraw from college and go to community college, despite his or her 3.7 unweighted GPA and 2300+ SATs. </p>
<p>Sheesh.</p>
<p>I can think of a zillion reasons why, if the girl was driving, the son might not want to rat her out. Maybe she had previous accidents or had a suspended license or was on a learner’s permit, or maybe she had told her parents she was hanging out at a girlfriend’s house, not with a boy. Or maybe she’s of an age that it could be a problem that they were out together. Maybe he doesn’t want her parents to find out about the incident at all. </p>
<p>I was also thinking that it wasn’t rocket science to see which way the muddy tracks went and notice a damaged truck with mud on the tires while driving past the house after getting the report from the neighbor. The delay may have been because the neighbor didn’t notice it right away. </p>
<p>Drunk young adults do not think things through- they simply react, usually in a way that think will be the easiest way out. </p>
<p>If you are in an accident in the city of Detroit and the cars are both driveable and there are no injuries, the police will not come. They will tell you to come into the station at your convenience to file a report. </p>
<p>I had a strange experience once. It was during an ice storm and I was trying to get home from work. The freeway was super scary so I got off and was driving on the service drive of the interstate instead. The road curved to go around a rest area (which was known for some shady stuff going on there). As I came around the curve, I realized there was a car stopped, no lights, no hazards, in the dark during an ice storm. I was only going about 15 mph but it was icy and I rearended the car. Immediately, the car was started, its lights went on and it drove away as fast as it could. So I hit them and they ran. There was no damage to their car but my grill was broken. I finished driving home. At work the next day I asked a co-worker whose boyfriend was a Detroit police officer what I should do. She called her bf and they said I should go file a report to protect myself. I did go in and file a report, explaining everything that had happened. I think the officers were kind of laughing at me for doing that, frankly. I didn’t get a ticket or anything. I’m sure the other car had been doing something illegal or didn’t have insurance or a license or something. There was some reason they didn’t want to interact with the police. I was 26 and scared and stressed from a 3 hour drive home in an ice storm. </p>
<p>Maybe they were doing something else in the car… if it wasnt too cold.</p>
<p>Sorry, not buying the girl story. And, if my 20-something kid thinks I’m springing for car repairs, property damage, and a lawyer to protect his drunken, sleeping self while he refuses to tell me every gory detail of what really happened. lol. Well, he would never think that for a second. </p>
<p>The girl is really irrelevant to the S having to pay for all the damages related to the car and facing whatever consequences flow from it. If she drove, it was with his consent. I would still highly recommend having an attorney to minimize lasting criminal convictions that can jeopardize future job options, since the police are now involved and have already spoken with S once.</p>
<p>Criminal convictions MAY have consequences for many, many years, as a loved one is finding out, 7 years after his alcohol-fueled youthful misadventures. It is cheaper and easier to minimize the criminal charges/convictions than try to get them removed or expunged later. </p>
<p>I like the idea of checking the driver’s seat position to determine whether a smaller person was driving (assuming that the girl is smaller than the boy).</p>
<p>However, the car has likely been taken to the shop for repairs so the seat may have been moved again. </p>
<p>The OP most definitely has her hands full right now…dealing with her son, and dealing with her H now that he’s learned about the issue.</p>
<p>Why would she have to “deal with” her husband? I would think they’d be on the same page. Sure he’d be upset (about the son, the truck, etc), but upset with their son and the situation, not with her. I would hope that her husband is supportive of her, not that she has to “deal with” him.</p>
<p>I agree with jym. I would hope H is there to help OP handle the situation.</p>
<p>I’m curious about the legal fallout of these online anonymous discussions. How anonymous are we, really? And can statements made here be used against us? Does the OP open up a can of worms for her son by posting what he said and did?</p>
<p>I think the likelihood,particularly in a small case like this with no injuries, etc, of someone going to the trouble of finding this discussion and trying to use it as evidence, is miniscule.</p>
<p>I just googled “boy says girl was driving during accident” this thread was the 22nd item listed. Not buried very deeply, at all.</p>
<p>But you knew to look for it. Doubt some cop will be doing this, or is a cc reader at present :D/ </p>
<p>The OP doesn’t know what really happened. I understand the impulse to protect your child and whatnot, but that impulse is lessened quite a bit when the kid is not being honest. And, I’m not seeing anything here that the cops don’t already know. They are pretty good at speculating and this case is not rocket science.</p>
<p>The S told the OP that he would get the repairs done when he told her about the accident. What is your evidence that he plans to have his parents pay for it?</p>
<p>Huh? That would be fine by me. The only problem I see is the potential legal problem. Otherwise, a kid slammed into a pole and has to pay for the damage. Not all that unusual. The possible drinking and driving and the refusing to fully answer parental questions wouldn’t fly here but to each his own, I guess.</p>
<p>There is also no evidence that he refused to fully answer parental questions. He told the OP what happened. It was the middle of the night. He was obviously intoxicated, and she was letting him “sleep it off.” I think that it is more reasonable to assume that they have since discussed it further than to assume that he refused to do so.</p>
<p>I really don’t understand why so many people assume that the kid is lying. Maybe I’m naive.</p>
<p>This morning, I was thinking about when I was a teenager, and I was involved in a minor accident. I was driving on a very narrow, twisty back road near our house. It was winter, and there was snow on the edges of the road, but not in the middle. I was driving carefully, and hugging the right hand bank, as one has to do on those roads. Suddenly a woman came around the corner in the middle of the road at some speed. She showed no signs of attempting to move over or slow down. To avoid being hit head on, I had to hit the brakes, which caused me to slide out about 2 feet. At the last minute she finally swerved back into her lane, but my left front corner hit the side of her car. This all happened very rapidly. Anyone who wanted to analyze what happened could see my tracks hugging the right and then sliding, and they could also see that she had no tracks on her side of the road until she finally moved back into her lane at the point of impact. Nevertheless, the cop who showed up said that it was my fault because I was the one who slid. And of course, I was a HS student and in my town that meant it was always going to be my fault. (I knew someone who was hit by an adult drunk driver, and the cop was in the middle of blaming the kid for the accident until the drunk literally reeled out of his car.) My father showed up at the scene, because my car was not drivable. (The fender was bent in towards the tire.) He told me not to say anything further, pulled the fender out, and we drove home. I never heard a word of blame from my parents. They didn’t immediately accuse me of lying about speeding or whatever as some here would apparently do. That meant a lot.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That is not a good comparison. You weren’t intoxicated at the time, nor did you leave the scene of the event. Someone who is drunk and telling a story which conveniently places the blame on an un-named person is almost always going to be viewed with at least a little skepticism.</p>
<p>Well, I think the suspicion about lying originated with the OP who seems to suspect lying about the unnamed girl and honestly if my son refused to tell me who he was with to protect her identity but then blames her for the accident I would be suspicious, too. If he drunkenly and belligerently refuses to answer fully questions from law enforcement we have a very big problem. However, at 20-some years old I am hoping and expecting a bit more common sense than that course of action suggests. Maybe the girl exists, maybe she doesn’t. But, that should not even be a question.</p>