Please help! Need evidence I was home during accused hit and run. BI clips much shorter than selected length.

mat200 said:
Hi @nowandthen

This is what I would recommend:

1) Backup the data.
2) Contact a lawyer to defend yourself. Do not talk to the police, have your lawyer do it for you.

note - a proper chain of custody may need to be formed for your evidence.
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Do NOT TALK TO THE POLICE.

Get a lawyer. DO NOT MOVE YOUR GEAR.

I would certainly provide the iphone GPS data (google maps timeline is awesome). Because that makes it to 'premeditated' if it shows you didn't leave and they'll claim you turned it off/left your phone at home.

So get the lawyer. All you're doing is showing your hand without charges. They can constructively take evidence to manipulate the information so that you lose.
 
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Purduephotog said:
Do NOT TALK TO THE POLICE.

Get a lawyer. DO NOT MOVE YOUR GEAR.

I would certainly provide the iphone GPS data (google maps timeline is awesome). Because that makes it to 'premeditated' if it shows you didn't leave and they'll claim you turned it off/left your phone at home.

So get the lawyer. All you're doing is showing your hand without charges. They can constructively take evidence to manipulate the information so that you lose.
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Well, to add to the thread, I'd say YES to talk to the police but only to see if the letter is legitimate. Call the station, not from any number on the letter but one you find from their web site. That's what I would start with. If it's legit, I'd simply tell them "wasnt me and ask for the evidence". Then I'd say lets do this through my attny.
 
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Actually that's a good point. I should have mentioned that first.
I've been boned before, including have a sworn officer of the law swear he put 'papers' in my hand- when I had photos of them stuffed in my door when I got home, and the video of him doing it from the camera. Still wasn't going to be an easy win ...

(was a suit for debt collection where I have the same name as the guy that did it- but they didn't care, as any name was as good as charged...)
 
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1. Yes the police do send out a letter like that on something like a hit and run esp in a large agency.
2. if you absolutely were not involved in any kind of accident and this some some kind of mistake it should not be that hard to clear it up and move on. This might be something like a mistake on someone getting a license plate.
3. We are talking about a hit and run here not a serious crime. If you love the idea of a lawyer go in and get this off the plate the put to bed.
 
Purduephotog said:
Actually that's a good point. I should have mentioned that first.
I've been boned before, including have a sworn officer of the law swear he put 'papers' in my hand- when I had photos of them stuffed in my door when I got home, and the video of him doing it from the camera. Still wasn't going to be an easy win ...

(was a suit for debt collection where I have the same name as the guy that did it- but they didn't care, as any name was as good as charged...)
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yeah, even when the police are shown that they are incorrect, the court considers them "a friend of the court" which gives their testimony more weight than anyone elses. Good luck. Curious to see how all this turns out. The people all yelling "get an lawyer" have good intentions but in reality just think about spending $200 every time you need to say something to someone. You'd be broke and lawyers even richer. I just think theres nothing wrong with contacting the police, getting the story understood first and THEN determining if its really worth the lawyer fees.


side story that might help, kinda similar core - I have a good friend who is an attorney. I got hit (minor car accident) and the other was at fault. Their insurance company said, "we'll pay everything except $300". I talked to my lawyer friend who said this is common now from the insurance industry. You COULD fight it but it would cost you that same amount for a lawyer, so you're still out the $300 even if you DO win. And if you lose, now you're out $600 in the end because you still have your lawyer fees. My friend then went on to explain WHY they do it. $300 they save isn't much. But if they do it for damn near every claim they have across the country, the amount they save is millions.

tldr - no one wins except the laywers and in the end, you always get fucked but in a bad way.
 
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nowandthen said:
I haven't contacted the police yet. I know nothing about the incident other than the letter claiming I was involved in a hit and run and I failed to stop and give my insurance information. I'd like to see the police report but not sure I should contact them yet. I think I'll get the advice of a lawyer.

In the video, I'm shown checking my mail box at 15:36 and the letter said I was involved at "approximately 15:40".

Thanks for all the advice.
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I would contact police asap and demand all records and reports. Remember you have the right to remain silent. Don't say anything. And especially don't say you "didn't do it". Say nothing. Just get the reports and records and proceed from there.
 
They won't let you have the records- they're part of an active investigation.

I'm sorry I'm so negative here, just too many experiences.
 
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Purduephotog said:
They won't let you have the records- they're part of an active investigation.

I'm sorry I'm so negative here, just too many experiences.
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So you know this for fact? You asked them in this actual case?

If they are accusing this fellow of a crime(hit and run) where he hit something with his car, they would come and talk to him and check out his car(the evidence).

OP, please post a picture of the letter with any sensitive info blacked out.
 
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Just call them and ask what is going on? WTF is so hard about that?

Does your car have any damage? Yes, it is possible to be involved in an accident and not know about it. But, you won't know anything until you call them

A letter usually goes out in any case like this. If it was really serious, they would be at your door. It usually works like this - they would probably like to see your car to check for damage consistent with the damage to the other vehicle (unless it was a ped or bicyclist, etc). They would prefer if you just drove over to the station so they could take a look. The other option it to IMPOUND your car for investigation of hit and run. Might not be today, might not be tomorrow, but it just might get entered in the system and one day you're going to be out driving around and get stopped for something, and your car is going to get impounded.

Call them up, ask what is going on. The only way I would spend the money to get a lawyer at this point is if your guilty
 
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eeeeesh said:
Just call them and ask what is going on? WTF is so hard about that?
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I agree the suggestions to Not contact are interesting to say the least. If you are not guilty don't act like it! The police are not out to get you as people are being led to believe by a certain group of peoples narrative here in the USA.
 
wtimothyholman said:
Hold on a moment - you got a letter claiming you were involved in a hit and run? Not an actual visit by an officer? First of all, find out if that letter is legitimate, or that if you are being scammed. Call the police to confirm if this letter is even real. If it is, then get a lawyer, but it already doesn't pass the smell test.

Second, call your insurance company. I can assure you that they are just as motivated in proving your innocence as you are. They may have some helpful advice for you, including a legal referral.

Third, a license plate by itself is pretty much meaningless. I've assisted residents in the past with my LPR system, and one thing I've learned is that a bystander will get the license plate wrong 9 out of 10 times. Is there any description of your vehicle included with the letter?
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Yes, it would be sent as a certified letter, if the police or other guy's attorney has not been able to contact you.

Remember, innocent until proven guilty.

Confirm it's real first, and don't spend one dime or one minute of your time until they present hard proof you were involved.

After all, you could turn around and say, "no no, it was them that hit me! Then they took my wallet when I was getting my proof of insurance, and it had $25,000 in it. WHERE'S MY MONEY BITCHES!?!?".
 
Angel_Eater said:
Yes, it would be sent as a certified letter, if the police or other guy's attorney has not been able to contact you.
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Thanks for a good laugh about the Police sending you a 'certified letter'...

It doesn't work that way. If they want to contact you bad enough, a Detective will show up at your door. The next step down from that would be a uniformed officer assigned to work your area would drop by.

A plain old, snail-mail letter is about the lowest level you can get - which kind of shows you the severity of the problem. But hey, go ahead and see if you can line up Alan Dershowitz, I think he has some free time right now... And, go ahead and just blow it off, but if your car ends up missing one day, you will probably find it at the impound yard with a 'hold' on it. But, the only way to get it released would be to talk to the Police
 
eeeeesh said:
Thanks for a good laugh about the Police sending you a 'certified letter'...

It doesn't work that way. If they want to contact you bad enough, a Detective will show up at your door. The next step down from that would be a uniformed officer assigned to work your area would drop by.

A plain old, snail-mail letter is about the lowest level you can get - which kind of shows you the severity of the problem. But hey, go ahead and see if you can line up Alan Dershowitz, I think he has some free time right now... And, go ahead and just blow it off, but if your car ends up missing one day, you will probably find it at the impound yard with a 'hold' on it. But, the only way to get it released would be to talk to the Police
Click to expand...

You must have misread what I actually typed. But yeah, he shouldn't be overly worried or go out of his way to do anything at this point.
 
eeeeesh said:
Just call them and ask what is going on? WTF is so hard about that?

Does your car have any damage? Yes, it is possible to be involved in an accident and not know about it. But, you won't know anything until you call them

A letter usually goes out in any case like this. If it was really serious, they would be at your door. It usually works like this - they would probably like to see your car to check for damage consistent with the damage to the other vehicle (unless it was a ped or bicyclist, etc). They would prefer if you just drove over to the station so they could take a look. The other option it to IMPOUND your car for investigation of hit and run. Might not be today, might not be tomorrow, but it just might get entered in the system and one day you're going to be out driving around and get stopped for something, and your car is going to get impounded.

Call them up, ask what is going on. The only way I would spend the money to get a lawyer at this point is if your guilty
Click to expand...

Exactly!
 
Found this thread and hopefully the OP had it all straightened out, but wanted to share my 2c on a remotely similar thing.

Unfortunately, it is very much possible to end up being liable even for a "contactless" accident in the absence of any hard evidence backing it up, just based on a witness testimony. It seems it depends much on a state - from my limited research some state agencies will not even look into "contactless accident" claims and dismiss them on the spot with "you're just an idiot yourself, next time be more careful" comment (don't quote me on this, but I read this is what Maryland will do in 99% of cases like this). Unfortunately some other states have it the other way round - and my relative learned it a hard way.

The only thing they had was a testimony of a driver that he allegedly tried to avoid a collision due to my relative's unsafe maneuver and ended up in a light pole (no contact at all between cars!), AND a testimony of a driver who allegedly was following him on the road and saw the whole thing. This was enough for a local court to find my relative guilty, slap a fine on him for careless driving or something like that and rule the accident at-fault for him (with subsequent raise in insurance premiums).

Nobody ever inspected his car (and nobody debated that it might well have no damages at all) and the judge didn't even want to listen to his side of the story - the thing was basically "no reason NOT to believe an independent unbiased witness" (who, btw, from what I heard, came to the court hearing in the same car with the victim lol, but those may of course be just rumors).

The only thing that honestly surprised me is why this is still not a much more common type of insurance fraud now with how easy this was on the accuser's side...
 
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