What constitutes "Personal Injury"?

[dfargo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Nebraska

Recently, I was in an accident and charged with "Careless driving" that marked Personal Injury. Personal Injury prevents the taking of a driving course to remove the charge from my record.

The event happened like so:
My car has issues with its solenoid, so it doesn't start occasionally without connecting the contacts on the solenoid, which causes the engine to start as though you turned the key. I "popped" the solenoid like explained, and the car slipped into drive and started moving at maybe 2-5mph, the idle rolling speed of drive. My sister was in the car.

I chased after it, fell, and had my hand rolled over by the tire which caused some bruising of my finger; the car rolled through two yards, the door hit a tree, and I was dragged on the ground by the car (trying to get into the driver's side) about 30 feet and scraped up my knees a bit before the car hit a mailbox. I then got into the car and shut it off.

Our neighbors called 911, and several cruisers and an ambulance showed up; the paramedics checked me and my sister out; I was in psychological shock (my first accident, coming down from the adrenaline of chasing the car), sister was okay with no injuries. They asked me to make a fist with my hurt hand, and I could; they then stated my finger was broken and suggested I go to the hospital with them, but I refused treatment to avoid the bills associated... the finger has since to show any signs of being broken and healed very quickly without problem, although I have not visited the doctor for a confirmation or denial of their suggestion.

Afterward, the police officer spoke with me. I explained the situation, and he asked how it could slip into drive, and I suggested that I could have left it in drive as a result of positioning the car to fill the tire with air. He stated he could possibly see a few different tickets resulting, maybe "fixed object collision", "leaving the road", etc. They asked for when my parents would be back (they were out eating, the usual Friday night thing) and I wasn't able to give a time, stated they could be an hour or so, maybe more.

The cops inspect the scene, wait for my parents, no one shows up in the hour they wait. They finally write the ticket for "carless driving", a misspelling on the ticket for careless driving, and check the Personal Injury box. They then back my car off of the mailbox and return it to my house about 200 feet back down the street, and leave.


I can understand that driving could possibly mean operating in terms of the law for careless driving in Nebraska, and I did endanger my sister and my neighbor's property (mailbox, tree, etc) as a result of the car taking off while I am operating it... seems appropriate for a charge in this case, to me.

I have in the time since made arrangements to replace the mailbox, and none of the neighbors are pressing charges or anything of the sort for damages, and seem to be genuinely okay with the situation.

Would myself being scraped up somewhat while chasing the car to stop it qualify as personal injury for the ticket?
Is this really a case of careless driving? (Though I believe it is appropriately given as careless driving, I would rest easy having some confirmation one way or the other.)

Any answers at all for this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all for your time.

[ecmst12]

This is not the traffic tickets forum, but the only advice I can offer is to go to court and contest the ticket. Generally "personal injury" means that medical bills were incurred.

[dfargo]

Ah, I wasn't sure which to place it under, since it was similar to both... I wouldn't be adverse to an administrator moving this to the appropriate forum.

Thanks for your advice. I'm thinking about doing so.