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Truck hit power line in street causing injury

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daniel142005

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Texas

The short version:

After about 5 hours after hurricane Ike i left to go pick up a friend and on the way I ran over a power line (couldn't see it because it was covered in leaves), this line reared up and caught the kid that was picking up trash nearby. His dad came chacing after my truck and once I had realized something had happened I stopped. I opened my door and the guy started punching me in the face. After I calmed him down some he told me what happened and we ran over there to check on the kid. Someone called the ambulance and they said the kid would be fine, the dad apologized and said he was just scared for his kid. I saw the mom at walmart and she acted like she wanted to start trouble. My friend told her to go home and she followed us around, I eventually talked to her explaining that my friend was just trying to avoid any problems and she said she was still in shock about her son, claiming that I "ran over him" and should be placed in jail.

The full story:

About 5 hours after hurricane Ike I was going to get a friend because his power was down and we had a generator. There were a lot of trees down from the storm (which was only a tropical storm where I live) but the road was pretty clear and he only lived 4-5 min away. When going down his road most of the road was covered in leaves so I decided to take it 20-25mph instead of 40. About half way down the road I ran over a power line that was buried under leaves. The line was not live, however there was a family in their drive way. Their kids were playing (or picking up trash as they claimed) around the power lines when I drove by. When I drove over the line it apparently whipped up and grabbed one of their kids around the leg (and scratched the other). At first I didn't notice it until I felt my truck jerk and there was a lady that was waving me down. I looked in my mirror and the kids father was chancing my truck in anger. I opened my door to see what he needed and he started punching me in the face. I, unsure of what had happened, tried to calm him down. He eventually told me what happened and we both ran back to his kid. Their neighbors went inside and called an ambulance to make sure the kid was alright and I stuck around until the ambulance had got there and told them that the kid was fine, just a cut on the back of his knee. The dad apologized for flipping out and I told him I understand, I mean he was worried about his kid. However, Today (3-4 days after it happened) I was walking around Wal-Mart and I heard someone call out "Hey are you the guy that ran over my kid?", I corrected her and said "I didn't run over your kid, I ran over a downed power line, but how is he doing?". She said he was doing alright, we started to walk away and she yelled "You should be in jail!", then my friend that I was with laughed like "what was that about?", and she yelled at him "its not funny" (he wasn't laughing at what happened to her son). She started to follow us and he told her to just go home. She called him a smart ass and said she would not go home. I threatened to call wal-mart security and by then she was already on the phone with her husband telling him who she ran in to in wal-mart and that I had a smart ass "sidekick" with me. I eventually stopped and talked to her and explained to her that he just didn't want any trouble, and she eventually ended up in tears, still shook up about what happened.

My questions:

Is there anything they can do (legal wise) against me? I could not see the power line, the kid shouldn't have been by the lines in the first place, and the fire dept. should of already moved the lines out of the road (which is still there today, they said they had called 3 times to have it moved and the ambulance called when they arrived).

Is there anything I can do (legal wise) against them (just in case)? I'm 17, so I am under age and the guy came to my car and started punching me in the face. I'm a nice guy, I try to avoid trouble so I left it alone, but if they do try something I would kind of like to know if I have any grounds I can use against them.

They did not seem to have much money, their house was somewhat run down, the dad was covered in tattoos and the area they were in wasn't the best... so I can see them trying to cause problems with this.

Anyway, thanks for your help.
Daniel
 


ecmst12

Senior Member
I have no idea if you will be found at fault, but the odds seem good. Report it to your insurance company and let them decide.
 

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