contridicting myself? please help

[Fixer79UC]

I may have screwed up. I hit a pedestrian last friday night in Ohio going 20 mph. He broke his arm. He was jaywalking on a dark rainy night in a dark coat, so the cops said I wasn;t at fault. Then in the cop car the cop said "You haven't been drinking or doing drugs?" So I told him the truth and said I had a couple beers (although I wasn't drunk). He then repeated the question, apparently not recieving the answer he wanted? So I replied "no". Then when my insurance investigator called to take the statement I told her I had several beers. Is this going to cause me problems? I wish I had just lied. I don't want to get sued and I'd like it if my insurance covered my damages. Please help.

 

[ALawyer]

FIRST, separate the past from the future, and the criminal from the civil.

Having a few beers and driving is not necessarily illegal (read the section on DUI at FreeAdvice.com). It depends on the timing and number and size of the beers.

If you lied to the cop and he smelled a beer s/he'd likely be PISSED at your lying to him/her and mlikely have taken you in and jailed you for the night. Then you'd likely have a DWI/DUI criminal trial coming up. (You may have anyway, especially if he gave you a breathalizer or blood alcohol test and you exceeded your state's Blood Alcohol limit. Also, there would be evidence of the extent of your impairment and it's hard to controvert.)

As for the injury you caused, the insurance company will pay the claim to the extent of your policy, even if you were drinking. To the extent that you don't have enough insurance, you may have a problem if there were very serious injuries or loss of income -- say it was an NFL quarterback whose arm you broke.

And the insurance company may cancel your policy, and the next policy could be VERY VERY expensive. If you were convicted of DUI -- especially if there was more than 1 conviction -- the new premium, to the extent you can get it, would be MUCH higher.

 

[Fixer79UC]

Thanks, your post was helpful. I am not too worried about the criminal aspect, because I wasn't intoxicated and the police agreed enough to not test me at all. I have learned from a friend's cop-friend that asking "have you been drinking?" twice is pretty standard, so that they get a better idea of how much you had. I was mostly concerned with my insurance covering everything, but it looks as though that wont be a problem. thanks.