Car hit by unlicensed driver - cops won't do anything (happened on private property). WTF?

[lanlady]

This just happened to a friend of mine in the city of Alexandria, Virginia.

My friend had just gotten into his vehicle which was parked at an office park. All of a sudden, a car parked opposite from him slammed into his car. The driver of the other vehicle tried to speed away, but my friend had the presence of mind to get out and make a show of taking down his license number. So the other driver stopped and got out. He pleaded with my friend not to call the police.

Wisely, my friend called anyway. The police officer said he was not allowed to write a report or issue a ticket because the incident occurred on private property. He did, however, ask to see drivers licenses. At which point it emerged that the person who hit my friend was a 17-year-old kid who did not have a license. The policeman did not arrest him, did not give him a citation, nada. All he did was call the owner of the vehicle and have him come and pick up his vehicle and the kid who had been illegally operating his motor vehicle.

My friend called the insurance company of the owner of the vehicle. The damage to his car was $3,000. The first thing the insurance company asked for, of course, is the police report, but there is none - it happened on private property so according to the cop, his hands were tied. Without a police report, the response from the insurance co. was pretty much, sayonara, sucker. Your word against our customer's.

My friend filed in small claims court in Fairfax County. He has photographs of the scene and of the damage to his car but because the police officer did no documentation of his own and didn't even arrest the kid for driving without a license, he's afraid he might not be able to collect.

My question is, how is possible that the police can't do anything against an unlicensed driver because the accident occurred on private property?? What if the person who hit him had been DUI? Would the cops have the same response? I'm flummoxed and so is my friend. Have any of you DUers had a similar experience?

[mnhtnbb]

1. Has your friend contacted his own insurance company?

What did they say?

[lanlady]

2. not yet

He's afraid his insurance rates will go up even though it wasn't his fault, so he's trying to deal with it through small claims.

[csziggy]

7. He needs to contact his insurance company

They will take the lead on pursuing the owner of the car, the kid, and get the money to fix his car. I'd guess the cost to your friend would be much less than the legal fees and time trying to do it all by himself.

[lanlady]

8. good advice

I'll pass it along to him!

[csziggy]

9. The other thing to do would be to contact the property owner

I don't know about the law where your friend is but the property owner might be liable to a certain extent.

Insurance companies keep lawyers on retainer just for cases like this. They do NOT want to get tied up in court so they often settle cases quickly.

[Baitball Blogger]

25. They generally request a police report

[kairos12]

3. This happened to my son on school grounds and the cops would do nothing.

[mackerel]

13. Was it a public school?

[kairos12]

17. Yes it was. We were forced to go to small claims court. We eventually dropped the matter and our

insurance covered the cost of the damage to our car and our carrier eventually went after the other driver. However, I think nothing came of it.

[mackerel]

19. I would have thought this to be true at a private school but not a public

school.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. Research it.

That seventeen year old kid may be the son of someone "important" in the community.

[TexasTowelie]

5. I had something a bit similar to me.

Two years ago I was hit by a vehicle while I was on my bicycle in the parking lot of a restaurant. The driver was licensed but since the incident occurred on private property and there were no witnesses it would have been a tough time if it had gone to court. The insurance company did offer a small settlement since the owner of the vehicle lent the car to a friend of his daughter so there could have been some liability.

I know that in Texas it is not required for a driver to be licensed as long as they remain on private property. I had friends that drove pickups on their ranches when they were as young as 10 years old (they were children of the county judge). As long as they remained off of public roads they were obeying the law. Obviously, in this instance it is almost inconceivable that the driver that hit your friend's vehicle had not violated the law though, but since the police officer did not catch the driver on a public road his hands were tied.

Your friend is correct to file a claim in small claims court and he should request that the officer involved attend the hearing to provide testimony. The kid and possibly his parents are still liable for the damage; however, whether he can collect on a judgment will be dependent upon their economic circumstances. However, I suspect that their insurance company is probably to hike the parent's insurance premiums based on this incident.

[lanlady]

6. the law in Va. is much stricter

Last edited Sat Sep 19, 2015, 10:37 PM - Edit history (1)

In Va. you have to have a license to drive a motor vehicle of any kind, anywhere. If the cop had arrested him or given him a citation at least there would have been some kind of police record connected to the incident. What if my friend had suffered a serious injury? Would the kid still get off scot-free? The whole thing is just so weird.

My friend definitely intends to request that the officer come to the court. He has been trying to get hold of the officer, leave messages, but the officer hasn't returned his calls. He called the Alexandria PD and asked to speak to the supervisor, he just wanted information on why the police did not have to write a report. The police asked him why he wanted to speak to the supervisor and were flat-out unhelpful.

Our public servants at work.

[TexasTowelie]

10. Did you mean "not-helpful?"

Your friend may have to subpoena the officer in that case. I imagine that they don't want to take a police officer off the street where they can generate revenue.

[lanlady]

14. Oops - thanks for catching that

I did indeed mean unhelpful!

[MADem]

11. City of Alexandria, or Fairfax County PD? Latter have been having problems I heard awhile back nt

[lanlady]

15. City of Alexandria

What problems have you heard about, MADem?

[MADem]

18. This business comes to mind most recently...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/officer-who-shot-john-geer-says-he-moved-hands-toward-waist-3-other-officers-say-no/2015/01/31/7cc2c0da-a7f6-11e4-a06b-9df2002b86a0_story.html

http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/local/fairfax%20/2015/07/28/fairfax-county-police-review-commission/30768811/

[WinkyDink]

12. What horse manure! So the cops also don't investigate burglaries on private property? Or murders?

[lanlady]

16. Did some research on Google

When it comes to traffic violations, in most jurisdictions the cops can't give you a ticket for not obeying traffic signs on private property. Say, if a parking lot owner puts in a stop or slow sign or speed limit. Although I guess that doesn't apply to handicap space violators.

But I've never heard of a cop refusing to even write a report when my friend's car clearly had a lot of damage.

[mackerel]

20. What if there had been more than just damage to the car? Would they not write a report if there

were injuries?

[dilby]

21. In instances like this the police expect you to settle it through insurance since

No laws were broken. Even though the kid had no license there is no law that says you need a license to operate a motor vehicle on private property. If the kid would have fled and they picked him up your friend would have had a better case because the kid would have broken the law with a hit and run. The key for the cops to intervene is a law needs to be broken.

[Major Nikon]

22. I once had my car totaled by a driver with no insurance, no license, and no current registration

He ran a red light and I t-boned him.

The police showed up and issued him a bunch of tickets, but he drove right off never to be seen or heard from again. The address he gave the cop was bogus. I asked the cop why he would let him drive off like that and he said there was nothing more he could do.

[magical thyme]

23. had a bad news neighbor that was stopped for speeding 4 times in one day...

driving unlicensed, unregistered. They let him go the first 3 times.

On the other hand, I dinged a neighbor's illegally parked truck blocking a fire lane at my condo complex. His brother was there, who told me his brother the truck owner would be back in half an hour. I told him I was headed to the drug store to pick up cold meds and would be right back.

His brother was back shortly before me. His girlfriend was on the phone calling the cops when I got back.

The cop threatened me with arrest for leaving the scene of an accident! For a fucking parking lot ding of an illegally parked truck on private property!

[Enthusiast]

24. Good. Old. Boy.

It's a club.

[A Simple Game]

26. So it's not illegal to damage someone else's property as long as you aren't on public property?

That's something to remember. What if the kid had used a baseball bat to do the damage? Baseball bat or car, what difference does the tool make as long as the result is the same?

[Xithras]

29. Willful vs. accidental.

It's a crime to take a baseball bat to someone's car because it's an act of vandalism to deliberately destroy someone else's property. Destroying or damaging their property accidentally isn't a criminal act. They're still responsible to pay for the damage, but you'll have to pursue them in civil court if they refuse to pay up.

If I walk over to my neighbors house and throw a baseball through his front window, I'm committing a criminal act and my neighbor could potentially have me arrested. If I'm playing with my kids in my yard and accidentally hit a baseball through that same neighbors front window, I haven't broken any laws, and my neighbors only recourse is to sue me for the damages.

[A Simple Game]

30. Thanks for the explanation, never realized that. n/t

[hamsterjill]

27. A police report should have been made by the officer.

"Report" being the operative word. He/she didn't have to (and couldn't) ticket anyone, but that should NOT have precluded the creation of a report with a case number.

[Xithras]

28. Varies state by state, but licenses generally aren't required on private property.

There are exceptions though. Here in California, it's perfectly legal for me to drive on private property in a car with no license plates, while drunk off my ass and not wearing a seatbelt. Take out the drunk part and my 13 year old kid can do the same thing. The vehicle code applies to vehicles on the public roadways, and cars on private property are generally exempt. There are exceptions though. California law has a very specific exception to the above. CVC 12500(c) says "A person may not drive a motor vehicle in or upon any offstreet parking facility, unless the person then holds a valid driver's license". So parking lots are off limits.

Virginia law is bound to be different.

I still don't understand why the police officer wouldn't take a report though. Even without any citable offense, the officer should have still offered to file a report. He probably isn't required to by law, but it was a dick move not to make the offer.

I can't imagine the headache your friend is going to deal with trying to collect on a small claims judgement from a teenage kid. In most states, parents responsibility to pay judgments for their kids is limited. Your friend might not see his money for years.