What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? IL
I was involved in an accident around two weeks ago. I was driving towards my house in a small town, and there was an SUV parked on the side of the road(In a bar parking lot). It was a sunday afternoon around 11am. As I was approaching the SUV, my front bumper was almost even with their back bumper. They started pulling into the lane without using a turn signal. I didn't have time to break and stop, so I swerved into the other lane, and they just kept turning(I think they were trying to make a u-turn) and hit me on my passenger side door. My truck was left drivable, with mostly cosmetic damage to the passenger side. It's an older truck, so all my estimates have said they would have to total it out.
The police were contacted, and they came out and took statements and all of that. The deputy who was taking the statements(she talked to everyone who was present) said that I would not be receiving a ticket because the other lady wasn't paying attention. She did however give the lady driving the SUV a ticket for not having a drivers license. She told me I could go home if my truck was drivable. I left the scene then.
Four days after the accident I get a phone call from the deputy who did the accident, and she told me she now had new witnesses saying that I was speeding, that the lady was already in the lane, and I was just trying to pass her(The witnesses are people like her sister-in-law and friends). Because of this ticket the accident is now my fault, and my insurance is freaking out because they already denied the claim from the other people. I plead not guilty to the ticket, and have a court date set up in a few weeks. I just want to know what everyones opinion is on the matter, and do I need to find a lawyer for this? I can't really afford to hire one right now. Everyone I've talked to has said they never heard of anything like this. So I don't really know what else to do.
I was involved in an accident around two weeks ago. I was driving towards my house in a small town, and there was an SUV parked on the side of the road(In a bar parking lot). It was a sunday afternoon around 11am. As I was approaching the SUV, my front bumper was almost even with their back bumper. They started pulling into the lane without using a turn signal. I didn't have time to break and stop, so I swerved into the other lane, and they just kept turning(I think they were trying to make a u-turn) and hit me on my passenger side door. My truck was left drivable, with mostly cosmetic damage to the passenger side. It's an older truck, so all my estimates have said they would have to total it out.
The police were contacted, and they came out and took statements and all of that. The deputy who was taking the statements(she talked to everyone who was present) said that I would not be receiving a ticket because the other lady wasn't paying attention. She did however give the lady driving the SUV a ticket for not having a drivers license. She told me I could go home if my truck was drivable. I left the scene then.
Four days after the accident I get a phone call from the deputy who did the accident, and she told me she now had new witnesses saying that I was speeding, that the lady was already in the lane, and I was just trying to pass her(The witnesses are people like her sister-in-law and friends). Because of this ticket the accident is now my fault, and my insurance is freaking out because they already denied the claim from the other people. I plead not guilty to the ticket, and have a court date set up in a few weeks. I just want to know what everyones opinion is on the matter, and do I need to find a lawyer for this? I can't really afford to hire one right now. Everyone I've talked to has said they never heard of anything like this. So I don't really know what else to do.