Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
I am a 75 year old man who was arrested for a misdemeanor 'hit and run'. I supposedly scratched somebodies paint with my side view mirror while driving. I have no recollection of this. I only recall and (I told the police) that there was a black SUV when I was driving that was honking the horn. I stopped w/ my son, and it rubbed off so the driver left. and we left. Then that same night police drove down from that city to our city and arrested me because another vehicle said I had hit them and left the scene. They arrested me and impounded my sons vehicle. The detective said the damages matched up, but they don't. Insurance says the only damage that matches is a light scratch. I suffered a stroke. What can I do?
Additional information
To clarify : The DA dropped the charges. There was no crime, they said. Black SUV stopped me saying I had scratched his car with my side view mirror. When I stopped with him and my son, we were there for 10 minutes and nobody else came to the scene to make themselves present. I didn't know it at the time, but on the police report it says The people who accused me were there, looking at me and my son and the black suv driver, but they didn't come out to make themselves known. The police know they were there. They also know the damages don't match up, except the scratch. But they still pressed the case on me. My Dr. says I was most likely having an ITA (intransient attack before a stroke), so I was not totally myself that day. I had a stoke a few days days after the arrest and release because of the stress I was put through.
1 Answer from Attorneys
You need to contact for an initial interview an attorney who specializes in suing public entities for violation of federal Civil rights as if you come under Section 1943 [right code number?] you can recover attorney fees. A claim must be filed within 180 days of the incident. it would seem to me that the police have the legal problems that 1) they had no legal jurisdiction to arrest you in another city 2) your clearly were not guilty of "hit and run" since you waited until the other driver left and you had no knowledge that the police were coming [which they were not] 3) someone who saw the incident would have to have given a statement to the police that they saw a crime but obviously they could not honestly say you"ran" as everyone else had already left [could they honestly state they could see damage from the distance they were at?].
For a referral to a local attorney, in Oakland you could contact John Burris, in Berkeley Jim Chanin.
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