Hello mom? ....crash!

[t walgamuth]

So today was beautiful here in Lafayette and the mrs and I went out to a park near here with the lovely #2 daughter and her three energetic children. We had a lovely time.

As we came up to our house the Mrs. said "Oh there is a police car out front of the house". I said "probably stopped a speeder, they have been doing that lately".

As we drew nearer we realized that a truck had run into the back of my big Dodge truck. It was a green ford ranger with a big load in the back covered with a wrinkly tarp. The front end of the ranger had gone under the corner of the dodge and the bumper of the dodge was about even with the firewall of the ford and the ford's front wheel was entirely under the bumper of the dodge. Yikes!

The impact had driven the dodge (all 6000# of it) uphill and into the back of my 87 Mitsubishi and had driven it up the hill about 6' as well. The dodge was heavily damaged front and rear, the mitsubishi only a little as the spare tire took the brunt without doing too much damage.

The neighbor across the street had heard the crash and come out and said that he had called 911 and witnessed the driver flee the scene in a white cavalier. I figured he didn't have a license or was drunk or high.

Soon the investigating officer said that they figured the three motorcycles and a bunch of tools in the back were all stolen.

So myself and my friend Ron who rents our carriage house stood there and watched all the merriment for about a half hour or so and then this rough looking fellow walked up from down the hill and told the officers he had been with the driver of the truck earlier and had left his book bag and phone in the ford. He wanted to know if he could retrieve them.

I thought "this guy is going to get himself arrested".

I could see the officers (there were three there by now and three cars) antenna go up. The officer got in the car and brought out a fairly large back pack which decidedly did not look it had books in it. he said "can you prove this is your bag?" "no" do you have ID?" "yes". what is in the bag? "some tools that belong to my dad and I was going to return them to him today"....."Can i look in the bag?"...."yes".....the officer has trouble getting the bag open. The scruffy fellow takes a few steps toward the officer and says "you want me to open it?" "NO. you go over there and stand against the front of my squad car". the man goes over there. The officer opens the bag and pulls out a ball peen hammer, crow bar, glass cutter, a bolt cutter and a couple other things I did not recognize....classic burgler tools.

I turned to Ron and said "I think I'll go in the house now"....Ron said, "me too".

About a half hour later I went back out expecting the fellow to be under arrest.

I didn't see him so I asked one of the officers "You let him go?"...smiling a little. The officer said "For now". He then stated that in california if you caught a guy with a bag of burgler tools you could arrest him but here you had to catch him doing the deed.

After about two hours they cleaned it all up and hauled the ford and stolen goods away.

The dodge runs and drives but the lr leaf spring is bent and there is a lot of damage....possibly totalled.

Just a quiet day in provincial Lafayette Indiana.

[kerry]

Yikes. Any idea as to how it happened? Had to be driving pretty fast.

[spdrun]

Sorry - but thank G-d that your local donut shop still needs probably cause for an arrest!

[Brian Carlton]

Wow, that Dodge is strong..........took a hit that demolished the Ford with "relatively" little damage to the Dodge.

Bet you could take that check for $14K and keep it for very little investment (leave the body issues as they are).

[Kuan]

Oh jeezuz. This is one time you wish those guys weren't wearing seatbelts.

[t walgamuth]

Well, he had to be drunk, stoned or distracted...possibly talking or texting while driving....?

[cmac2012]

I can't believe they didn't arrest the guy. Did they have any other lead on the driver? And the guy admits he was in a stolen vehicle with stolen goods in the rear and could he get his burglary tools back please?

All one can hope for is that the cops were confident that he'd given them enough to find the driver and/or find the burglary tools guy again.

[t walgamuth]

In the end they decided the truck was not stolen, but I'm like you I think they could have thought of a reason to hold him.

The guy who came for his burglar tools had some stones didn't he? The mrs said he was just stupid.

Think of the force that it took to move the dodge six feet, the mitsubishi 8' and bend the main leaf spring on the dodge 3/4 ton truck.

[engatwork]

He did not get arrested for possession of stolen goods?

[t walgamuth]

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

Wow, that Dodge is strong..........took a hit that demolished the Ford with "relatively" little damage to the Dodge.

Bet you could take that check for $14K and keep it for very little investment (leave the body issues as they are).

Well, I owe a bit more than $9k on it so I'll have to see how it all pencils out. I suspect the salvage on it will be substantial with the Diesel and six speed tranny. I'll have to look and see if the impact reached the intercooler on the front end.

[Jim B.]

Didn't those cops on the scene even run the guy for warrants, to see if he came up dirty and had a probation "warrantless search" on his person?

That's unbelievable!
That's felony hit and run property damage out here.

To quote a Superior Court felony division California Judge I used to work for, all the guy needs now is "an apology and a ride in the Mayor's limousine".

But yeah, it's insurance time. And you ned to start making some moves right away.

Sounds like subrogation is going to be useless (judgment proof db debtors) useless and looks like the Dodge is totaled out. If you have UM/PD coverage (check your policy) you'll only be out your collision deductible, and probably you can get it waived if you push, and go rent another truck and NOT some POS Chevy Aveo either! to drive while you go around and shop (Dodge diller here you come!) for another lightly used truck to purchase...... you should be covered, too, and be sure to insist on direct billing of the rental to your insurance company (who in effect you are suing, as they stand in UM/PD cases in the shoes of the adverse party who is likely a judgment - proof debtor.) so you won't have to pay a cent.

But hurry, you also have a duty to mitigate your damages, and the insurance companies like to settle total losses in 30 days, they hate paying car rental and storage fees at the yard in cases of total lossess.

Wouldn't hurt either if you got an independent appraiser for a couple of hundred dollras to appraise Both your Dodge and Mitsu. Even a post loss appraisal is better than nothing, and it will prevent the insurance company from low-balling you on the settlement figures.

Which they will.

How do I know they will?

Cause I use to BE one of "They".

I'd go to the police department and get a copy of the report, usually available in about a week, and see if the driver or the guy who came back's name is on there.

Then go to the Adult Probation Department and ask the duty officer if these or either one, shown on the Police report are on active probation right now.

If YES, and there could be warrantless search conditions, the Probation officer that caught their case could go and arrest them, search their vehicles, person and residence, and if ANYTHING is out of line, anything, like posession of drugs or weapons, is dscovered, and if he can, he goes and convince the County Prosecutor to do so, file a motion to revoke probation.

"Beyond a reasonable doubt" like in criminal trials does NOT apply, in MTR's y the prosecution, the "Preponderance of Evidence" is all yolu need 51/49% is enough to find him in violation, and thye judge can revoke and send him to Satate Prison if he was on felony probation. At least, if in violation - he'd e likely to get a week to 6 months in jail, (with no county parole, no early release and no work furlough). Right then and there.

How do I know that's how they they do that in CA. felony criminal court?

..because I used to be one of "THEY" .

~~~

By the way the pic's portray a beautiful neighborhood you reside in.. I'd purely love to visit it someday....

[TylerH860]

I certainly wouldn't want the Dodge to be fixed...Check please. No thanks on having a tow vehicle with a tweaked frame. Since you had been trying to sell it I guess its not a big deal.

[Kuan]

Sometimes they let the guys go so they can fry the bigger fish.

[kmaysob]

Time to buy a ford diesel

[t walgamuth]

Originally Posted by Jim B.

Didn't those cops on the scene even run the guy for warrants, to see if he came up dirty and had a probation "warrantless search" on his person?

That's unbelievable!
That's felony hit and run property damage out here.

To quote a Superior Court felony division California Judge I used to work for, all the guy needs now is "an apology and a ride in the Mayor's limousine".

But yeah, it's insurance time. And you ned to start making some moves right away.

Sounds like subrogation is going to be useless (judgment proof db debtors) useless and looks like the Dodge is totaled out. If you have UM/PD coverage (check your policy) you'll only be out your collision deductible, and probably you can get it waived if you push, and go rent another truck and NOT some POS Chevy Aveo either! to drive while you go around and shop (Dodge diller here you come!) for another lightly used truck to purchase...... you should be covered, too, and be sure to insist on direct billing of the rental to your insurance company (who in effect you are suing, as they stand in UM/PD cases in the shoes of the adverse party who is likely a judgment - proof debtor.) so you won't have to pay a cent.

But hurry, you also have a duty to mitigate your damages, and the insurance companies like to settle total losses in 30 days, they hate paying car rental and storage fees at the yard in cases of total lossess.

Wouldn't hurt either if you got an independent appraiser for a couple of hundred dollras to appraise Both your Dodge and Mitsu. Even a post loss appraisal is better than nothing, and it will prevent the insurance company from low-balling you on the settlement figures.

Which they will.

How do I know they will?

Cause I use to BE one of "They".

I'd go to the police department and get a copy of the report, usually available in about a week, and see if the driver or the guy who came back's name is on there.

Then go to the Adult Probation Department and ask the duty officer if these or either one, shown on the Police report are on active probation right now.

If YES, and there could be warrantless search conditions, the Probation officer that caught their case could go and arrest them, search their vehicles, person and residence, and if ANYTHING is out of line, anything, like posession of drugs or weapons, is dscovered, and if he can, he goes and convince the County Prosecutor to do so, file a motion to revoke probation.

"Beyond a reasonable doubt" like in criminal trials does NOT apply, in MTR's y the prosecution, the "Preponderance of Evidence" is all yolu need 51/49% is enough to find him in violation, and thye judge can revoke and send him to Satate Prison if he was on felony probation. At least, if in violation - he'd e likely to get a week to 6 months in jail, (with no county parole, no early release and no work furlough). Right then and there.

How do I know that's how they they do that in CA. felony criminal court?

..because I used to be one of "THEY" .

~~~

By the way the pic's portray a beautiful neighborhood you reside in.. I'd purely love to visit it someday....

I am convinced! I imagine they did all that already. They know where both of them live too.