Coal rolling pickup runs from prius after swiping Front quarter

when the court case is over I will repost the full video and you can see he has an exhaust issue

 

Here is a small update to the situation. It turns out the kid was the son of a sheriff which could explain why he believed the law did not apply to him. The father is also the head of the brotherhood of the blahblah union in the very county where the accident happened and of which the responding sheriff belonged. This may explain why the kid was not charged with running from the scene or driving without insurance. Also on the police report it did not contain the kid's license number which could make things tickey.

That being said, I tracked the case regarding the ticket the kid did receive regarding changing lanes unsafely. The court docket actually had uploads of all the paperwork including the citation which contained the kids license number (this becomes important later). The kid bought insurance the night of the accident and had it for traffic court two weeks later. He pled no contest but was found guilty and had to shell out $175. This is important because he could have claimed he was not driving (for when I sue him) but the court ruling found him at fault and that came with a fine and two points.

Having the name and the license number I could do a public search and found that he had a ticket from two years earlier of 90 in 65. He did not show up to his court date and the judge threatened to hold him in contempt but ultimately he paid online and claimed he was on active duty. Two notes to this: the license number, address, and phone number all matched across the two tickets so chances were good that was his real address. I did an SCRA search to find that he was active military at the time but went off of active duty October 23, 2019. While he is in the reserves now, he is trying to operate some contracting business in the area and is no longer active. For those that do not know, you cannot sue a person on active military duty in a civil matter.

Quick side note: to the guy that thought I was just cruising in the left lane, **** you. clearly I was in a passing maneuver, watch the video again.

Back to the story. So ultimately I filed a case in small claims court. The target amount is the deductible and the court cost. While there is no way to force him to pay simply by getting a judgement, it is laying the groundwork to bring him in for disposition and wage garnishment\asset collection. As he has a business in the area he has income and items I can access. He also is not going to immediately leave the state. It looks like he went live with the business about a month after the accident. The court date is Oct 23, 1 year to the day he went inactive. While he has been ducking the summons I finally hired a bailiff to serve him. The clerk informed me that a sheriff will try to deliver 3x and then attach it to the door and it is considered served.

Also I spoke again with his insurance company alerting them to the fact I was filing a crash report and learned he cancelled his policy six weeks after the accident. Sure he could have switched companies, but given the situation I am thinking he just bought insurance until the court case cleared.

Now, in order to apply maximum pressure, I filed an uninsured crash report. This did not exist in new york- but apparently ohio does not play with uninsured drivers. The way this works is you file with motor vehicles proving you took damage by an uninsured driver. You need the driver license number. Once they register it, they will suspend the driver license. I received a letter on Saturday indicating that they set the suspension up and that it will take effect on October 30.

There are only three ways for the suspension to be removed:
1. The individual declares bankruptcy
2. The individual waits out two years
3. Motor vehicles received both a letter from him and from me confirming the debt has been paid

The debt on record is the full amount of the repair cost $1500. The license suspension is to rectify both the debt to me and to my insurance company. So if I win in small claims court he will now owe me $1065 (which accrues interest), he needs to prove to the BMV he paid me $1500 for that suspension to be removed. Even if he pays the $1500 he still owes me another $65 for the court costs of which I can bring him into court for dispositioning. Failure to show for dispositioning the court can hold the defendant in contempt (remember by that point the decision is already rendered by the court that money is owed).

So long story short, I got him on a few different angles here.

 

I will give him the benefit of the doubt in that he ran out of driving skill and caused an accident, however, driving without insurance is no accident and was a decision. All the extra aggravation he now will have: the court, the license suspension, the extra cost on top of what the damages would have been alone, the out of pocket expenses for the repairs if he actually ever pays, the reduced chance of talking his way out of the passing citation, and maybe even some ground to argue he was not totally at fault (although the video makes it clear but maybe the next guy will not have video) all could have been different if he chose to do the right thing and buy insurance.

The fact that six weeks after the accident he cancelled his policy either means he learned absolutely nothing (or he shopped around and bought a different policy) I honestly have no proof he straight up went back to no coverage, maybe he did actually transfer to another company or he got rid of the truck. Either way, he is 22 years old, his father is a sheriff, he was stopped not even two years before for a 90 in a 65 (at which time he did have insurance), he should know better.