924S vs. Pedestrian

[ike229]

Hey everyone!

Its been awhile since ive posted here on the board... mainly because the 924S has been running flawlessly, and ive been pretty busy with school.

Now to the story.

Last night a friend and I decided to take a drive down along daytona beach to see how spring break was coming along. Cruising at about 25 mph when a drunk kid decided to push another drunk kid out into the road in front of me. There was little I could do as this happened right as I was passing the kid... so i threw on the brakes and swerved a bit to the right. The kid hit the front of my car, and proceeded to roll up and take out my windshield. When i got out to see if he was allright, he got up and began to run from the scene. I chased after him as I was dialing in 911 and after a good foot chase, and a hop over a large fence the kid was apprehended. He was handcuffed, and examined my EMS. He kept denying that he was the one that I hit, however his battlescars showed differently. He was given a pedestrian citation and held at fault for the accident, according to the arresting officer.

Today i tried to contact him at no avail, but got through to his parents and explained what had happened. They said they would have no problem paying for the damages (new windshield, and dents and paint on my passenger side front quarter) as long as they were sure that he was the one who came in contact with my car. I am 100% sure that I hit him, although he continues to deny it. I had just waxed the car the day before so it was spotless, and the kid left a perfect handprint on the top of my hood. I tried to get the police to lift the print, however they refused to, saying that they only do prints for criminal investiagations. Another interesting fact is that they would not breathalize him, although he was only 20 and had clearly been drinking.

Hopefully this fully explains what happened, however im sure its not the story in full.

Basically I am really ticked that my baby got bruised up and this kid thinks he can lie and try to get away from paying for the damages to my car. The windshield is being put in tommorow morning at a price of $220 (out of my pocket), and ill take care of the front panel ASAP.

I am a believer that a car is never the same after an accident like this happens. I guess i am a perfectionist, and when the panel is repaired and repainted I have a feeling it wont match well.

Heres a picture of the windshield. The panel damage doesnt show up very well on camera.




Any comments, or legality thoughts would be greatly appreciated. And watch out for inconsiderate drunk assclowns while motoring today.

[GMingst]

My thoughts are of how much that sucks. Very sorry to hear of it. I hope you can get everything repaired to your satisfaction

[nynor]

what moron shoves his 'friend' in front of a moving car? sounds like the 'friend' needs to be arrested for attempted manslaughter, or whatever.

[bearone2]

why no comp insurance or you don't want an insurance claim?

i pay peanuts for it.

[The Chief]

Sounds like the Daytona Beach police may be in need of fresh manpower; obviously the idea that any crime might have been committed in this instance eludes those currently on the payroll...

[Eldorado]

take the print yourself, and show the kid's parents... along with his 'battle scars', it should be enought to prove.

[Dark Skies]

Originally posted by Eldorado
take the print yourself, and show the kid's parents... along with his 'battle scars', it should be enought to prove.

Yes, I was about to suggest the same. You'll need some aluminium powder and one of those blusher make-up mops girls use. Put some powder in a jar - just a little, twirl the brush in it, remove it and twirl the brush to shake off the excess. You want just enough powder to lightly adhere to the print without caking in between the ridges and making it difficult to read. So gently twirl the brush over the print - don't paint it. You're almost trying to spin dust onto the sticky sweat traces. To lift it you'll need some wide clear sticky plastic. Most art shops will have this.

Before doing so blow over the area to shift any excess powder. The least powder the easier it is to pick out identifying loops, whorls, bifurcations etc. Less is best.

Put the clear plastic over the print and get a nice flat contact. Lift the plastic off and then mount on some dark paper - black being best.
If you can't get aluminium powder then talc will serve as a substitute.

Trust me, I used to be a fingerprint officer.

[liljon's924S]

Sorry to here that... Hope you get your baby back to the condition you want!

[Dave L]

I would leave insurance out of this at pretty much all costs. Although you have a story i dont think they will look kindly upon you hitting pedestrians.

The last time I was involved in an accident I asked how they asses blame. I was told they simply have a chart and look it up. If you rear end someone you are 100% at fault, you can slide for miles on black ice and the police wont charge you but as far as they are concerned you are 100% at fault. You should have had control and been able to stop. This is the Canadian system so YMMV but I would try and work something out with the parents. Express your concern for the kid as well this will help soften up the parents.

Sorry about the damage, be sure to get a good paint and body man, black is a tough one to match up and will show all imperfections.

[bearone2]

Originally posted by Dave L
I would leave insurance out of this at pretty much all costs. Although you have a story i dont think they will look kindly upon you hitting pedestrians.

The last time I was involved in an accident I asked how they asses blame. I was told they simply have a chart and look it up. If you rear end someone you are 100% at fault, you can slide for miles on black ice and the police wont charge you but as far as they are concerned you are 100% at fault. You should have had control and been able to stop. This is the Canadian system so YMMV but I would try and work something out with the parents. Express your concern for the kid as well this will help soften up the parents.

Sorry about the damage, be sure to get a good paint and body man, black is a tough one to match up and will show all imperfections.

why leave them out, the pedestrian was cited.

[ike229]

Dark skies....


We were already in the process of lifting the prints ourselves before I got to reading your post.


Here is what we were able to pull up, and a link to a HIGH resolution version. (about 5 megs in size)





http://www.fredbrown.com/hosted/ike229/Pic/prints.jpg

Let me know in your professional opinion if there are any good identifying marks.... After taking a look, I believe there may be two or three good areas.

Also, the diagram on the picture is that of how the hand print was on my hood. If you take your right hand and bend ur thumb to touch the palm of your hand you should be able to see how the print was on my hood... I believe his pinky finger didnt make contact.

1) Being his thumb
2) Being his index finger
3) Being his middle finger
4) Being his ring finger

[Eldorado]

keep us posted!

[Razorback1980]

Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt. After hitting a windshield that hard, I'm sure he had a tremendous headache. The parents that should pay for it are the ones of the kid that did the pushing but I'm sure he'll never be caught. As for your car...even worse situation. If it were mine, I would see if I could find a fender off a black car and see if I could buff it pretty close to the same color as my car. If I couldn't I guess you find a paint shop and see what they can do. I would still present the bill to his parents, however they probably won't pay it. As far as insurance....it's still a claim no matter who is at fault and you will pay the insurance company back just over time through higher rates....I would pay for it myself and go on, it will cheaper in the long run. Bad situation, but what can you do really other than stay away from drunken crowds. Prevention is still the best medicine....shame it has to be that way though. If I lived near that beach, my car would probably be parked down there permanently....nice place to live. Good Luck and if you need help finding a fender with that color, let me know and I'll see what I can find.

[bearone2]

book 'em danno

[The Chris]

Wow, looking at the damage, I have to ask....was that his head that made the circular shatter???

Best of luck with getting the $. I'm glad nobody was seriously injured, and it looks like you have strong evidence.

[Dark Skies]

Looking at the enhanced pics I reckon lift 2 is probably your best shot. I don't know how many points of recognition you require for legal purposes in your neck of the woods. I believe it varies from State to State - some being as low as 7 and up to around 12 in others. As a general rule of thumb 9 points ought to be sufficient. Over in the UK it used to be 16 points to secure a criminal conviction. We dropped that standard some time back. Nine ought to be good enough.

BTW. I'd also try to keep your insurers out of it. The reason being ... when my car was totalled by a drunk driver I (eventually) claimed off my insurance and they in turn recouped all their losses from the DD. HOWEVER ... when my insurance came up for renewal my premium was doubled regardless. It's because they reckon once you've made a claim statistics show you're more likely to make another. It's BS, of course, but that's the way they play it. Insurance companies probably suck the world over so do check it out before making a claim.

I reckon you ought to try and get the parents to put pressure on their son to get the name of the jackass that pushed him into your car. Then claim off of him. The bloke who hit your car was more of a victim than a perp. You've got better legal standing that way. I've also got a law degree so I don't say this lightly. Once the parents get that repair bill I reckon they might have second thoughts. If it went to court you could lose.

[Eldorado]

i agree..
pushing someone into a car is no different than, say, taking a bat to a car.. you're still the one causing the damage.

hopefully you can find that other kid..

[Cory M]

You should have thrown it into reverse and finished the job.

[ike229]

Out of curiosity I decided to do a public record search on the individual. Turns out hes been in trouble before.

I pulled up 2 records on him... one which is currently being processed, so i couldnt view the full details of it.... but the other one.... which i got a kick out of is :

Violation : PEDESTRIAN FAIL TO OBEY PEDESTRIAN CONTROL SIGNAL

Verdict: PAID CIVIL PENALTY/ ADJUDICATED GUILTY

[swimmingly]

Three words...Find a lawyer.