Anyone who works for the APD/RRPD?

libbyann

We got in a hit and run accident today - it's not bad at all and thankfully everyone is fine. However, I really want my car fixed. We did get the license plate of person who hit us, know the make/model/color of the car and have a description of the person who did it. The officer that came out to the scene said that an investigator will be calling us to follow up and start the investigation, however that can take up to 3 weeks to happen. At that time, if they can't prove that this person is the one who hit our car, then we're basically SOL and will have to file the claim (& pay the deductible) on our insurance. 

I'm wondering if there's any way to speed up this process. In my head, I'm thinking that if the person was mean enough to drive away from the accident, then they could potentially go get their car fixed in the 3 weeks time it takes the PD to start the investigation. Is there anything else we can do? If/when they do find her, can we press charges? The officer that came out to the scene wasn't the most helpful and I get it...it wasn't a bad accident, no one was hurt and he had other things that needed to be done. But I really just want to know where I can get more information on what we can do from here.

SareBear30

Would your insurance company investigate for you?

MrsBeckO

I had a TERRIBLE experience with APD when I was on the receiving end of road rage last year. My case was assigned to a detective and for months he never returned my calls. When we finally tried to complain about him and were essentially brushed off, we gave up. I hope you have better luck and the process moves quickly and easily! And above all, I'm glad everyone is okay!

libbyann

SareBear30:

Would your insurance company investigate for you?

No, not until the police investigation has started. We have already filed a claim with them and everything, but we just can't get our car fixed without fronting the deductible (understandable). I talked with the agent in length on the phone, but she really didn't have any more information about the actual police side of things. She said if we did decide to get the car fixed and they were able to find/prosecute the person responsible, we would get our money back if they won, but that could take a really long time.

libbyann

MrsBeckO:

I had a TERRIBLE experience with APD when I was on the receiving end of road rage last year. My case was assigned to a detective and for months he never returned my calls. When we finally tried to complain about him and were essentially brushed off, we gave up. I hope you have better luck and the process moves quickly and easily! And above all, I'm glad everyone is okay!

Thanks Becky - I'm sorry you never got anywhere with your case! I remember reading that and couldn't believe someone would act like such an idiot. Apparently it's more common than I thought.

This is the RRPD, so *hopefully* things will go differently! I always thought Williamson County had a pretty good (or bad, depending on which end you're on!) reputation as far as police enforcement goes.

bobcatsteph

I'm sorry you're dealing with this. I was involved in a hit and run a few years ago (and didn't get the license plate number) and my insurance company filed the claim as an uninsured motorist, which was 1/2 the deductible and didn't count against me.

I wonder if you talked to your insurance company if they would cover it now, then sue the other driver and their insurance to get their money back? It couldn't hurt to give them a call. GL.

libbyann

bobcatsteph:

I'm sorry you're dealing with this. I was involved in a hit and run a few years ago (and didn't get the license plate number) and my insurance company filed the claim as an uninsured motorist, which was 1/2 the deductible and didn't count against me.

I wonder if you talked to your insurance company if they would cover it now, then sue the other driver and their insurance to get their money back? It couldn't hurt to give them a call. GL.

Thanks for that info, Steph! I didn't even think to ask anything like that on the phone. I'll call again tomorrow and see if there's anything they can do for us. I'm sure we could come up with the money for half the deductible.

BLONDIE6FT

ummmm...you could look up their liscence plate online (you have to pay to do it) and go look at the car yourself? i know, i know, i can hear everyone yelling at me that that is not safe. but it's not like they are gonna be on the look out for you! if you see the car, snap some pics! it may or may not be useful, but it can't hurt. google  'reverse liscence plate'.  i just did this because of our new weirdo neighbor. geeez....i must sound like a crazy person! 

i've always been a little bit of a detective myself, because the police did not help me all that much with my carjacking years ago. i really busted me a** trying to solve alot of it for them (and myself). like you, no one was hurt, so it was no 'biggie'. long story, but all in all i learned alot about how slow law enforcement is when it comes to relatively 'unimportant' crimes.

mcgee

I'm sorry to hear that Libby. No experience with RRPD here, but APD sucks. Mike's car was broken into, and when he called the police, their response was basically "oh well. That sucks for you."

MnMShaw

If you are depending on APD, I would expect much longer than 3 weeks.  RRPD should absolutely not take that long.  Do you have a case #?  If so, call the main number and tell them you would like to speak to the detective assigned to your case and let them know you have the case number in hand.  They should be able to let you know who the detective is and transfer your call to them.  If the accident happened today, I would wait until Wednesday to call if you haven't heard from anyone at that time.  The officer that took the report has to type it up and put it in the system, then it has to go through a supervisor, and then it finally gets assigned to a detective (and maybe a few other steps in between).  So, IMO, I would wait until Wednesday and then call and request to speak to the detective. 

labbielover07

I'm sorry you all got into an accident today!  That is scary and I'm glad everyone is alright.  I was talking to DH about it, and hopefully RRPD is different than APD.  He works with APD on pretty much every call he runs and the system can run 50-60 wrecks a day.  Many are situations just like yours.  Unless someone was injured or someone died in an accident, there isn't a big investigation that happens.  RRPD could be different and I would def. follow up with that cop sometime next week. 

libbyann

Thank you guys so much for the info! We have the ability to look up the license plate # and DH is doing it tomorrow. Great ideas for what to do with that!

The officer that came out today would absolutely not write up a police report or assign us a case number. He just handed us a card (presumably his, I haven't looked at it though) and said it would be approx. 3 weeks before someone contacted us. In all honesty, he was more concerned about the state of our tires and the fact that DH's license is from our old address - he didn't even look at the damage at our car. He was with us all of 2 minutes, so I figured we're probably going to have to do most of the legwork to get anything done on this, which is super annoying.

BLONDIE6FT

libbyann:

Thank you guys so much for the info! We have the ability to look up the license plate # and DH is doing it tomorrow. Great ideas for what to do with that!

The officer that came out today would absolutely not write up a police report or assign us a case number. He just handed us a card (presumably his, I haven't looked at it though) and said it would be approx. 3 weeks before someone contacted us. In all honesty, he was more concerned about the state of our tires and the fact that DH's license is from our old address - he didn't even look at the damage at our car. He was with us all of 2 minutes, so I figured we're probably going to have to do most of the legwork to get anything done on this, which is super annoying.

they did the same thing with our friends a few months ago! they had a new car and had not received the new liscence plates and the whole time kept asking them about that! so annoying!

good luck with your research! it is so dang frustrating, but at least you know ahead of time to not expect much from the police department. last hit and run we were in, dh chased the guy down and cornered him in his neighborhood til the cops arrived. (i know, i know! what was he thinking?? but after knowing that no one would do anything about it, i think dh just couldn't let the guy go)

ditzydi_2000

libbyann:

We got in a hit and run accident today - it's not bad at all and thankfully everyone is fine. However, I really want my car fixed. We did get the license plate of person who hit us, know the make/model/color of the car and have a description of the person who did it. The officer that came out to the scene said that an investigator will be calling us to follow up and start the investigation, however that can take up to 3 weeks to happen. At that time, if they can't prove that this person is the one who hit our car, then we're basically SOL and will have to file the claim (& pay the deductible) on our insurance. 

I'm wondering if there's any way to speed up this process. In my head, I'm thinking that if the person was mean enough to drive away from the accident, then they could potentially go get their car fixed in the 3 weeks time it takes the PD to start the investigation. Is there anything else we can do? If/when they do find her, can we press charges? The officer that came out to the scene wasn't the most helpful and I get it...it wasn't a bad accident, no one was hurt and he had other things that needed to be done. But I really just want to know where I can get more information on what we can do from here.

What part of LH did you get hit on?  Maybe if you were in front of a business the cameras caught the person hitting you that you could try and tell the investigator about when they finally get in touch with you.  Other than that, I'm not much help.  Sorry that happened and I hope they get in touch with you sooner than their 3 week projection.  

BLONDIE6FT

ditzydi_2000:

libbyann:

We got in a hit and run accident today - it's not bad at all and thankfully everyone is fine. However, I really want my car fixed. We did get the license plate of person who hit us, know the make/model/color of the car and have a description of the person who did it. The officer that came out to the scene said that an investigator will be calling us to follow up and start the investigation, however that can take up to 3 weeks to happen. At that time, if they can't prove that this person is the one who hit our car, then we're basically SOL and will have to file the claim (& pay the deductible) on our insurance. 

I'm wondering if there's any way to speed up this process. In my head, I'm thinking that if the person was mean enough to drive away from the accident, then they could potentially go get their car fixed in the 3 weeks time it takes the PD to start the investigation. Is there anything else we can do? If/when they do find her, can we press charges? The officer that came out to the scene wasn't the most helpful and I get it...it wasn't a bad accident, no one was hurt and he had other things that needed to be done. But I really just want to know where I can get more information on what we can do from here.

What part of LH did you get hit on?  Maybe if you were in front of a business the cameras caught the person hitting you that you could try and tell the investigator about when they finally get in touch with you.  Other than that, I'm not much help.  Sorry that happened and I hope they get in touch with you sooner than their 3 week projection.  

if you go that route, don't wait too long! they erase those tapes more often than you think. i don't wanna sound discouraging, but i tried with the tapes, too and even though it was on there, there were all sorts of reasons the police department did not use it/wasn't interested in it. i just don't want you to get your hopes up

SaraLouiseBride08

That is ridiculous! I can't believe he didn't do more. I've had some bad experiences with APD in the past, but I have to say my last 2 incidents went well. Once time I came to find my parked car had a hole all the way through the door. The officers spent quite a bit of time with me, and eventually determined the car that hit me was parked across the street. The only reason I didn't have to pay for that myself was because the officers spent so much time investigating. The other time was when I was rear ended last year. It happend on the day that plane flew into the building, so aside from it taking 3 hours for the police to arrive, I think it went well. They were super busy, but at least took the time to write a case number and get everything submitted. AND had I not had all that documentation, I would have lost when the other person's insurance tried to refuse to pay.

However, in both of those cases, it took a lot of work and follow through from me to make sure the ball didn't get dropped. Stay on top of this is my best advice. The squeaky mouse gets the cheese! And I would definitely see if you can track them down and get pictures. What helped prove which car hit mine in that first incident was measurmants. If you go, take a yard stick or something similar. And make sure you are giving as much information to the police as possible.

Good luck!

libbyann

Thanks SLB, that's super helpful! We've got the person's address and I'm going to call my insurance company this afternoon at naptime. DH is going to drive by on his way home from work (they live like 2 minutes from us - one neighborhood over!) and then if it seems "safe" I'll go with him later and take pictures.

I didn't sleep at all last night - I just kept playing it over and over in my mind. I just have this fear that her car is going to be fine or something. It was an older car and the impact wasn't that hard - hard enough to damage our bumper and scratch our car, but what if all that was just the license plate on the front or something? Ughhh. I just hope we can get it resolved!

SaraLouiseBride08

Try putting the accident back together.

Once I backed into another car when pulling out of a parking spot. I hit her so lightly, I hadn't even realized I'd done it (until, while waiting to leave the parking lot, she reached in my open t-top, grabbed my hair, and slammed my head into my window. Yes, this story ended with her going to jail). Anywho, there was zero damage to my car, and a little scrape to hers. However, by reenacting the accident, the police (unfortunately) were able to determine exactly where my car would have hit hers, and thus noticed that there was dirt rubbed off my car in the exact spot. I got to buy her a new bumper for a scratch that didn't go through the paint and was 1/2" long (and she went to jail for driving without a license and assault, karma baby!).

But the point is ... even without damage to the offending car, they were able to prove there had been impact. To go over the accident in your head - where she was, where you were, what part of her car was most likely to have hit yours. Measure the height of the damage to your car. Then if you do go over there, you come prepared. Or can at least tell the police where and what to look for.

libbyann

The drama continues. Turns out that the person does not live at the house anymore and the number on the listing is disconnected. We'll still follow through, but I'm putting my money on she doesn't have insurance. I still want to press charges/whatever, but I'm super annoyed.

BLONDIE6FT

libbyann:

The drama continues. Turns out that the person does not live at the house anymore and the number on the listing is disconnected. We'll still follow through, but I'm putting my money on she doesn't have insurance. I still want to press charges/whatever, but I'm super annoyed.

that sucks! you can try the name at whitepages.com and you might get a newer address?

SaraLouiseBride08

Oh that SUCKS! People suck so much sometimes. I hope you/they track her down. Even if she doesn't have insurance, she is still accountable and your insurance will work their butts off to collect your deductable back. But hopefully, she's just moved in the last year and hasn't updated her registration, y'all find her quick, and she has great insurance!