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Accident = Crim Mischief Charges?

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softballmom1972

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? TX


I am new to this forum and am hoping anyone can give me some advice/suggestions.

Here is the situation: My husb was in an accident in 6-2005 (he was the only one in his vehicle). Someone pulled out in front of him from a private drive and into the center turn lane, where he continued driving as if it was a lane of traffic. My husb honked at this other driver and then made a U-turn. He pulled up next to the guy who was still in the center turn lane and looked at him and raised his arm up, like a shoulder shrug, as if to ask the other guy "What was that?" My husb then sped up because he needed in the left turn lane that was coming up. He checked his mirror and was clear so started to get over and the vehicles collided. The officer talked to both drivers and during the course of the conversation with my husb, my husb mentioned that he had been arrested before and had spent time in TDC. He says he did this because he thought the officer would find out about his crim history. My husb went, voluntarily, to the police dept. to give a written statement. He says he was giving a Miranda. No citations were issued to either driver. No insurance info was given to my husband about the other driver and vice versa. About 4 days later, my husb called the pd to get a copy of the report and was told it was an offense report, so he assumed it was against the driver of the other vehicle. In Sept, my husb received a summons to appear in court but no reason was listed. When he called the County Clerk, he was told that the charge was Crim Mischief $1,500-$20,000.

Does this seem a little weird to anyone but me? This appears to have been nothing more than a traffic accident. I feel that the pd is pursuing charges based on my husb comment that he had a felony record.

Any suggestions?What is the name of your state?
 


outonbail

Senior Member
softballmom1972 said:
What is the name of your state? TX


I am new to this forum and am hoping anyone can give me some advice/suggestions.

Here is the situation: My husb was in an accident in 6-2005 (he was the only one in his vehicle). Someone pulled out in front of him from a private drive and into the center turn lane, where he continued driving as if it was a lane of traffic. My husb honked at this other driver and then made a U-turn. He pulled up next to the guy who was still in the center turn lane and looked at him and raised his arm up, like a shoulder shrug, as if to ask the other guy "What was that?" My husb then sped up because he needed in the left turn lane that was coming up. He checked his mirror and was clear so started to get over and the vehicles collided. The officer talked to both drivers and during the course of the conversation with my husb, my husb mentioned that he had been arrested before and had spent time in TDC. He says he did this because he thought the officer would find out about his crim history. My husb went, voluntarily, to the police dept. to give a written statement. He says he was giving a Miranda. No citations were issued to either driver. No insurance info was given to my husband about the other driver and vice versa. About 4 days later, my husb called the pd to get a copy of the report and was told it was an offense report, so he assumed it was against the driver of the other vehicle. In Sept, my husb received a summons to appear in court but no reason was listed. When he called the County Clerk, he was told that the charge was Crim Mischief $1,500-$20,000.

Does this seem a little weird to anyone but me? This appears to have been nothing more than a traffic accident. I feel that the pd is pursuing charges based on my husb comment that he had a felony record.

Any suggestions?What is the name of your state?
It sounds like the typical case of road rage on your husbands part.

A couple of parts of the story you post, don't make much sense and reads like your trying to make your husbands actions seem innocent enough. Please don't take this as a personal attack, as I wasn't there and can only make a guess by what you've posted.

If I'm understanding your post correctly, your husband was traveling down the road when this person pulled out in front of him, I assume, causing your husband to have to hit his brakes to avoid a collision. This is something that is actually quite common. Doesn't make it a legal or safe driving practice, but that's why we always have to look out for other drivers on the road, who may at any momment, do something stupid and unexpected.

However, subsequent to your husband's evasive braking maneuver, he blows the horn to let the other driver know how close he was to causing an accident. The other driver, was now traveling in the center turn lane, heading in the opposite direction from that which your husband was traveling.

This is where your husband decides he isn't going to be satisfied with blowing the horn, as he flips a U turn to chase the other car down. He is now, irate at this point and by his own actions, is no longer the victim of a close call, but the aggressor in a case of road rage. What other reason could explain why your husband needed to make a U turn and pull alongside this guy? It seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through to shrug your shoulders at someone.

You did not mention how many people were in the other vehicle or their ages, so I can't comment on how that could affect the situation, other than to say that if there were multiple passengers in the other car, who each provided their version of what happened to the police and it was quite different from your husbands rendition, they would most likely be received as the more credible party. If for no other reason other than your husband going out of his way to turn around and chase them down.

What the other party probably claimed and which would be my guess as well, is that your husband turned his vehicle into them causing the accident.

It just doesn't make any sense that after shrugging his shoulders he sped up and checked his rear view mirror, as he needed to turn left. How could he all of a sudden, lose sight of the same car he had to chase down? Additionally, whatever street he would have been turning left on, by this point, is a street he would have already passed before he had to do a U turn and catch up to the other vehicle. If he needed to turn left there, he would have done it the first time he passed the street and avoided meeting up with this bad driver in the first place.

Your husband needs to control his anger and not allow his emotions to take control of his actions. Or, not be surprised at being charged for his actions or having to pay the price for such adolescent behavior.

No good will ever come out of chasing another vehicle down the road to express your anger over their poor driving skills. The occupants of the other vehicle could have admitted to the police that they pulled out in front of your husband, when they should have waited. But that doesn't give him the right to do what he did following their potentially fatal mistake.
 

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