After a hit-and-run accident, whether it is your fault or not, you must make sure that you follow certain steps to protect your legal rights. What happens if the other driver left the scene of an accident before police arrived? Not only can a hit and run be very inconvenient for all parties involved, but if the person who caused the crash leaves the scene then no one will have any idea what happened or who was at fault.
In most states, there are specific laws against leaving the scene of a crime. It does not matter if there were injuries or not – once someone is involved in an accident, they are expected to stay at the scene of the crime until it is resolved. If you have been involved in a hit and run that was caused by another driver, here are several steps that you should take to protect yourself and your rights.
Contact Your Lawyer
The person who hit you may or may not have been at fault, but the fact of the matter is that they left without taking responsibility for their actions. In this case, it does not matter if they were at fault or not – the police will be looking to find them and hold them responsible for their actions. Calling a lawyer before making a report to the police department is a good idea because having legal representation can help ensure that your rights are protected in court. As explained at https://www.brookslawgroup.com/tampa/car-accident-lawyer/hit-and-run/, even if you did not suffer any injuries from an accident, there is still a possibility that you could win in court based on other factors such as how badly the other driver was driving when he/she caused the crash. Therefore make sure that you have a lawyer on your side to help ensure that everything goes smoothly.
Contact the police immediately
Hit and run accidents are very serious, and if you do not contact the police it can be used against you in a court of law. When the other driver leaves the scene of an accident, they may also decide to hide their license plates or any other evidence against them. As such, you need to report this crime so that another driver does not get away with leaving someone injured on the side of the road. Make sure that you get a case number from the police officer at the scene so that if anyone decides to leave later on there will be proof of who caused the accident in question. Filing a police report will help keep you protected in court in case the other driver tries to claim otherwise.
Collect Evidence
After a hit-and-run accident, there will likely be no official evidence of what happened – which means that if the other person leaves then they will probably get off scot-free. This can be very frustrating for car accident victims who suffer injuries or property damage in an accident caused by the other party. If you want to prove to the court that another driver was at fault, then you need to collect as much evidence as possible before the police arrive because once they do, any evidence could disappear very quickly. You should take photographs of all the skid marks and broken glass left over from the incident so you still have something to show if the other person is not found. If the police are called, then try to get any information that you can from them about what they are doing to find the at-fault party.
File A Claim Against The Insurance Company
In most states, the at-fault party’s insurance will pay for some or all of your property damage from a hit and run accident – however doing so can be difficult without help from an experienced attorney who knows what they are doing. After a hit-and-run accident, the insurance company may attempt to argue that you were partially at fault for not stopping after being struck by a vehicle – even though there was no way for you to do so. An experienced attorney will know how to handle this type of claim and what process needs to be followed to make sure that your insurance company takes full responsibility for the damage done by the other driver.
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Hit-and-run is not the type of situation that anyone deals with ease – but it can be handled worse if you do not know what to do. Make sure you keep these tips in mind and contact a lawyer as soon as possible after the accident so they can begin building a case for your property damage and any injuries that you have suffered.
