Woman with alcohol in the car swerves into me. Is there anything I can do?

[Slay2055]

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

Hey,

Wanting some advice as to how to handle a situation.

I'm driving with a friend when a car with the lights off swerves into me and totals my car. It's a young woman. I've got just a few bruises but the woman cracks the windshield with her head and is visibly disoriented.

Cops come. She told the cops she doesn't have a license. I found the fake license on the floor later. It was tore in half.

The cops are extremely pissed off that I'm taking pictures of her car even though it's perfectly legal. So because the woman is disoriented, one of the cops tells me they can't do a DUI test on her because of the head trauma she will test positive regardless?

My friend looks inside the woman's car and finds 2 empty beer bottles under the driver's seat. As he's about to take a picture one of the cops comes rushing at him and screams in his face. He wasn't able to take the picture of the empty bottles.

The woman got to walk away with just a ticket for driving without a license.


My question is, is it perfectly in his jurisdiction for the cop to do what he did? If so, Is it sketchy for a cop to do something like that? I have 2 pictures of beer in her car, and I have the fake license with me.

P.s: An ambulance came. They checked on her, and left.

 

[CdwJava]

Doing field sobriety tests on someone with a head injury is all but pointless since the head trauma would inevitably be blamed by the defense as the cause of any visible clues to impairment.

The presence of empty bottles simply tell the investigator that sometime in the past someone put an empty bottle in the car. The bottles do NOT tell the officer when they were consumed or even who consumed them.

If the officers wanted to do a more thorough investigation, they could later seek to subpoena or serve a search warrant on the hospital for the results of any blood tests. But, unless the officers could develop probable cause for DUI at the scene to justify an arrest, they cannot mandate a chemical test. Absent FSTs, or objective indication of impairment, proving the DUI could be tough.

And if she did not go to the hospital, then all bets are off in that department.

It's also possible that the police just shrugged it off. Bottom line is that you have no right to a competent and thorough criminal investigation, much less any real investigation at all.

 

[Slay2055]

Thank you for the answer.

Truth is, it was my mom who's car got totaled, not me. Whenever someone hurts my family members, I seek to make them pay as much as I can. She got off with a ticket.

Lucky bitch got away with it. I just hope she learns her lesson, and doesn't end up killing someone else.

 

[CdwJava]

There are things they might have tried at the scene to develop the probable cause necessary for a chemical test, and I cannot possibly know whether pursued those investigative avenues or not.

Sorry that it happened and I hope your mother will be fine.

Mom can and should put in a claim to the other driver's insurance, and she can also consider a lawsuit ... though, it sounds as if this is someone without the means to pay off a judgement so that may be pointless. But, it is an option she should look into.

 

[stealth2]

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

Hey,

Wanting some advice as to how to handle a situation.

I'm driving with a friend when a car with the lights off swerves into me and totals my car. It's a young woman. I've got just a few bruises but the woman cracks the windshield with her head and is visibly disoriented.

Cops come. She told the cops she doesn't have a license. I found the fake license on the floor later. It was tore in half.

The cops are extremely pissed off that I'm taking pictures of her car even though it's perfectly legal. So because the woman is disoriented, one of the cops tells me they can't do a DUI test on her because of the head trauma she will test positive regardless?

My friend looks inside the woman's car and finds 2 empty beer bottles under the driver's seat. As he's about to take a picture one of the cops comes rushing at him and screams in his face. He wasn't able to take the picture of the empty bottles.

The woman got to walk away with just a ticket for driving without a license.


My question is, is it perfectly in his jurisdiction for the cop to do what he did? If so, Is it sketchy for a cop to do something like that? I have 2 pictures of beer in her car, and I have the fake license with me.

P.s: An ambulance came. They checked on her, and left.

Curious... You "saw" the fake license and took it? Then your friend "saw" empties under the seat? Junior detectives, eh? Whether you or your Mom.

 

[CdwJava]

Even curiouser, she wrote it in the first person and then claimed it was mom that it happened to. I'm not sure whether the OP was even in the car or not.

 

[ShyCat]

Even curiouser, she wrote it in the first person and then claimed it was mom that it happened to. I'm not sure whether the OP was even in the car or not.

The OP said his car was totaled in the accident, but then later clarified that it was actually his mom's car. I read that as the OP was driving his mom's car.

 

[CdwJava]

The OP said his car was totaled in the accident, but then later clarified that it was actually his mom's car. I read that as the OP was driving his mom's car.

Oh ... that makes sense. Must be the late hour.

 

[stealth2]

Well, hopefully, s/he will come back to clarify!

 

[Zigner]

Curious... You "saw" the fake license and took it? Then your friend "saw" empties under the seat? Junior detectives, eh? Whether you or your Mom.

To take this reasoning a bit further...

Their sleuthing may have compromised the crime scene enough so that any "evidence" discovered by the police would be questionable and useless in court. In other words, all this digging may have sunk any criminal case the police might have had.

 

[not2cleverRed]

To take this reasoning a bit further...

Their sleuthing may have compromised the crime scene enough so that any "evidence" discovered by the police would be questionable and useless in court. In other words, all this digging may have sunk any criminal case the police might have had.

I was also thinking that they were impeding the police from doing their job.

Taking photos of your car, scene of where the accident happened before moving the cars out of the way = normal.

Exchanging papers/information with other driver = normal.

Rifling through the other driver's vehicle? Um, no... Just don't do that - that's weird. Small wonder the police were "unhelpful" and more sympathetic with the woman, who was injured.

 

[Slay2055]

No one touched anything though? And like I said I have pictures and the fake id.

Thanks for assuming to know what happened. People are good at that

 

[Zigner]

No one touched anything though?

So say YOU. Of course, a court or jury isn't going to believe your self-serving testimony on that point. Not that it matters, because your tampering with the scene virtually guaranteed that no charges would be filed. Way to go!

 

[Slay2055]

So says you aswell though?

Java gave me the most solid, unbiased reply which made me understand why they did what they did. Could they have done more? According to Java they might have, I think they either didn't want to file the paperwork or didn't want to ruin the young, cute girl's life. You, on the other hand came in and immediately painted me as the bad guy and the liar.

And I didn't tamper with any evidence, either. It's perfectly legal to take as many pictures and videos as you'd like. As long as you don't touch anything. The cop himself told me they couldn't test her because of the head trauma.

Just because you have a sad life doesn't mean you should take it out on others and assume they're the bad guys.

Thank you for those that contributed. I speak with a lawyer later today.

Ciao

 

[Zigner]

And I didn't tamper with any evidence, either. It's perfectly legal to take as many pictures and videos as you'd like. As long as you don't touch anything.

You gave the appearance of contaminating the scene which is enough to sink any case. I'm sorry you don't understand that.