Hit and Run... in a parking lot - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

droopydrew19 · 10-25-2009, 03:44 PM

I thought I would post this here to see if anyone has experience with a similar incident or I know we have some leagally inclined CPers.

Details:

In June I was parked in a Walmart parking lot.
My kids were inside my van as I ran into the store.
A truck pull beside me and opened their door banging into my door.
Upon realizing that my door had been hit the driver closed the door and drove away.
As the truck drove away my oldest daughter got out and took down the licence plate number of the truck.
We went the next day to the Police and did a report.
Police tracked the guy down and did not press charges.
Police told me that the guy would work it out with me.
I contacted him and got autobody quotes for some scratches on my door.
Today I finally get to meet the guy face to face. He wanted to make sure that he caused damage to my vehicle. We lined them up side by side to assess.
The scratches that I assumed he made do not line up to his vehicle.

It just does not feel right to have someone hit and run and then tell me I didn't do any damage. He admits he banged my door. I was not present so I cannot prove that he did damage. There is damage on my door that was done around that time as I wash my vehicle weekly so I would have noticed it doing a car wash.

So I am questioning.... Why run if there was no damage? Is there any variables that I am not thinking of? Is a hit and run pretty much an admission of guilt?

Thanks for the ears of the CP collective.

droopydrew19 · 10-25-2009, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fotze

Could there be a difference in elevations of the cars from then til now? Tire pressure differences, different tires/winter?

I know he told me he just had new tires put on. I will have to find out what he was running before... thanks... that's a variable I never thought of.

Any other ideas?

C-Life · 10-25-2009, 03:56 PM

Wouldn't we all like to get all of our little dings and scratches fixed. I'd feel proud that you got as far as you did. But the fact is, these things happen due to ignorance and 99% never get dealt with by the perp.

I have so many dings and scratches on my 2008 Lancer I stopped counting.

**** happens.

droopydrew19 · 10-25-2009, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C-Life

Wouldn't we all like to get all of our little dings and scratches fixed. I'd feel proud that you got as far as you did. But the fact is, these things happen due to ignorance and 99% never get dealt with by the perp.

I have so many dings and scratches on my 2008 Lancer I stopped counting.

**** happens.

I hear you... but in most hit and run cases people get the heck outta there and never get caught. I am proud of my daughter for having the prescence of mind to follow up. I just do not know how burden of proof works when he left the scene.

Sliver · 10-25-2009, 04:07 PM

I'm surprised the police even helped you that much. I had some lady open her door into my car, then let the open door rest on my car as her fat ass got into her car just to work the scratch in a little deeper. I watched the whole thing from inside a store. I ran out and confronted her, showed her the scratch and how it lined up perfectly with her door and my paint on her door. She gave me her phone number and promised to pay for damages.

When I called her later she denied the scratch was her fault. I talked to the police and they couldn't have cared less. I think you're SOL, particularly because the scratches don't even line up.

Methanolic · 10-25-2009, 04:24 PM

I have to whole heartedly agree with C-Life, **** does happen to all of us. Sometimes you just have to move on and forget about it. I've got a blue scuff/scratch on my truck that's been there for over a year. Because I'm an old fart now, stuff like that just doesn't get under my skin anymore, and my truck still gets me from A to B even with that blue scratch on it.

RougeUnderoos · 10-25-2009, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sliver

I talked to the police and they couldn't have cared less. I think you're SOL, particularly because the scratches don't even line up.

While I don't think they should give the impression that they couldn't have cared less, we can't have the police going CSI on parking lot scratches - lining them up and whatnot.

I know it's annoying to get a scratch on your car, but they've got bigger fish to fry.

CaptainCrunch · 10-25-2009, 05:03 PM

You should have kidnapped his family and forced him to buy you a new car.

This city needs a better breed of criminals.

3 Justin 3 · 10-25-2009, 05:05 PM

At least yours is only a scratch, someone broke my front headlight and scratched the bumper. I didn't notice until I got home, had to pay for it myself (I didn't know who hit me I was in Bestbuy).

killer_carlson · 10-25-2009, 05:15 PM

file a civil claim against the guy.\

Your kids will have to testify as witnesses, but put the other guy in front of a judge.

Sliver · 10-25-2009, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

While I don't think they should give the impression that they couldn't have cared less, we can't have the police going CSI on parking lot scratches - lining them up and whatnot.

I know it's annoying to get a scratch on your car, but they've got bigger fish to fry.

lol very true. The cop explained to me giving somebody a door ding/scratch isn't illegal.

The Yen Man · 10-25-2009, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sliver

I'm surprised the police even helped you that much. I had some lady open her door into my car, then let the open door rest on my car as her fat ass got into her car just to work the scratch in a little deeper. I watched the whole thing from inside a store. I ran out and confronted her, showed her the scratch and how it lined up perfectly with her door and my paint on her door. She gave me her phone number and promised to pay for damages.

When I called her later she denied the scratch was her fault. I talked to the police and they couldn't have cared less. I think you're SOL, particularly because the scratches don't even line up.

Wow, at least you got her phone number. I'd make it my mission for the next little while to call her at 4 am or 5 am in the morning to wake he fat ass up all the time.

ken0042 · 10-25-2009, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by droopydrew19

I just do not know how burden of proof works when he left the scene.

This is another province, so take it for what it's worth. But I was on the wrong end of something like that when I was 16, and basically because I had not been forthcoming at the scene of the accident, when it came to her word against mine, hers was given more weight.

Do you have a police report where he eventually admits to what he did? If so, you are doing him a favour by not processing it through insurance. If he wants to dispute it, let him now dispute it with his insurance company.

Peanut · 10-25-2009, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sliver

lol very true. The cop explained to me giving somebody a door ding/scratch isn't illegal.

Maybe not illegal, but so very, very annoying. Just last week I was sitting in my car while watching a "bigger" women get into her POS Echo, after first slamming her door into the side of our car, she then proceeded to use her door for leverage to get into her car while it scraped up and down my driver's side door. Awesome. I guess I could have jumped out and yelled at her, or jumped out and got her license plate, but really, what is the process for restitution on something so minor? Nothing, because it's not worth anyone's time or effort. Frustrating.

JFK · 10-25-2009, 09:47 PM

Droopy, you have to practice being a scarier dude. I'm totally serious.

People won't mess with you if they're worried you've got some psycho caged up inside.

Sorry for not having any useful advice though.

theg69 · 10-25-2009, 09:55 PM

Man, that's awful, but as previous posters have said, I think you are SOL. You do not have absolute proof that beyond a reasonable doubt that person dinged your car. If it comes to examining the evidence, I do not think you have a case.

However, I see this happening all the time, but in all honesty, once one of us has a car, it will get dings and scratches, and we just have to live with them. For example, my buddy got a brand new bmw 335, parked it at second cup, and what does he see when he is drinking is coffee? Sees some stupid guy open his door into his brand new bmw on the first day he drove it home from the dealership. My buddy confronts the guy, and figures its not worth fighting over as the guy just randomly forked him over a couple twenties (like that would really actually cover the dings on a bmw...).

Oh yah.. and some people are just absolute jerks here in the city as I have recently come back to Calgary.. I have a white car => and someone thought it would be funny to magic marker certain words on my car and draw phallic symbols on it, man if i caught that person, i swear I would probably beat the living crap out of them. I spent the whole afternoon scrubbing it off => thankfully some weird Asian product washed them out ok!