If you have been victimized by a hit-and-run driver, you know how infuriating it can be. All you want is to find the person who struck you. Not only did they cause you injury and damage your car, but they deliberately worked to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. It is a personal affront, and you desperately hope the police find the individual responsible.
It is important to know what that driver may do after the crash, especially if he or she has been drinking. Experts note that there are three common trends among hit-and-run drivers:
- Removing evidence from the vehicle: After the person leaves the scene, he or she tries to clean up the damage to the car. While a full repair may be impossible, the person may try to remove paint that scraped off from your vehicle or cover up the damage — repainting a damaged front bumper, for instance.
- Hiding the vehicle: The person may hide the car, trying to keep it out of sight during the immediate investigation. Sometimes, this just means hiding it in the garage. However, they may take even more drastic steps, such as driving to another property and hiding it under a tarp in a pole barn. Eventually, they plan to bring it out and have repairs done to completely erase evidence of the crash.
- Drinking with witnesses: A drunk driver may then hurry to another location and actually start drinking even more. They do this with witnesses, who often do not know about the crash. That way, if the police arrive, they can at least claim they were not drinking and driving. A breath test will show a positive blood alcohol concentration, but the person can then claim that is just from drinking at that location. Witnesses may back this up.
When the police catch the hit-and-run driver who injured you, make sure you know exactly what legal options you have after a hit-and-run crash.
