Ugggh...That accident that won't go away!!

[Kfancii]

Ya'll might remember my post about being rear-ended on my way into work last December - if you want to refresh your memory, you can go here:

http://forums.onewed.com/showthread.php?t=22803&highlight=Wild+Commute

Well, I have since gotten my SUV fixed, but instead of her insurance stepping up to the plate and taking care of all of the charges like they should have, I am now out of pocket $250.00 to take care of the charges they wouldn't cover. I would have been better off if she would have been uninsured! Fine, I have come to terms with the fact that sometimes life isn't fair and was moving on.

Well, last night I got home, and checked the mail, and I have received a letter asking me to appear as a witness for the state in a municiple court case they have filed against her. She is pleading not guilty to the ticket and trying to avoid the fine. Now, she is completely at fault and the damage from her hitting my bumper came to over $1200.00 - she was driving but didn't have a license (was suspended), fled the scene of the accident, hit another car during her escape, and then was caught and taken to jail.

Here is what bothers me about testifying. She has all of my personal information, name, address, phone, etc. I'm concerned that if I testify, there could be retaliation towards me. I don't know if that should be a real concern or not. At the scene, she begged me not to call the police and when I did, she begged me to lie and say she wasn't driving. Hello- she was the only person in the car!! Who else could have been driving???

Anyway- I don't know what to do. I don't have to appear, but I'm the only one listed as a witness and if I don't do it, she will walk. I don't want her to walk, but I don't want to be victimized anymore either. I have already lost time from work and $$ because of this girl. I just want it to all go way. What would ya'll do if you were in my shoes?

[candars]

IMHO, I would testify. I think it would be a little different if there were others that could testify instead of you, but since you are the only one, I would go for it. If you are really concerned, maybe you could talk to the police about your feelings and why you are hesitant to testify. I remember reading about the accident when it first happened and this woman SHOULD NOT be driving! If it were the other way around and it were her car and you had caused the wreck, I don't think she would hesitate to testify against you. Good luck with this and hopefully it ends soon.

[HisDelightfulFaerie]

Testify. The police and/or the judge can put measures in place if you feel she's a threat to you and your family.

[WebLady]

I would probably have the same apprehensions as you. I would tell the courts that you don't feel comfortable personally appearing in court and see if maybe you can ask if you can submit a formal statement or something instead.

If they really want to testify; I don't know, I guess I would do it and maybe try to get a restraining order against her.

All the best :flower:

[Tadswife]

I would probably have the same apprehensions as you. I would tell the courts that you don't feel comfortable personally appearing in court and see if maybe you can ask if you can submit a formal statement or something instead.

If they really want to testify; I don't know, I guess I would do it and maybe try to get a restraining order against her.

All the best :flower:

I deffinalty agree with what is said here. I would to have apprehensions but would do it if need be. But knowing me, my anger would get the best of me and I would jump in head first with out thinking.

[kgvettegirl]

You are the only person who can get this menace off the roads. If it was me I would make darn sure that she got jail time, loses her licence for years if not lifetime and get monetary compensation for my time and aggravation. I'm just mean like that. And if she does threaten you file charges.

[Kfancii]

Thanks for all the responses ladies. The responsible me knows I need to testify, because she is guilty and needs to pay the price. The angry me is tempted to take her to small claims court to get the $250.00 back that she cost me, but the rational me realizes that it just more time off work and more money out of my pocket to file. Chances are, even if the judgement is in my favor, she won't have the money and I would never see it.

I have until Monday to decide what I want to do and will call the courts back then with a decision. The woman I spoke to was very nice and understands completely why I don't want to do it. She was in a similar situation not too long ago, and can totally relate. I don't think she would ever approach me face to face, but I worry that she and her family/friends could vandalize our house or worse yet, hurt one of our dogs.

[Katiegirl]

Thanks for all the responses ladies. The responsible me knows I need to testify, because she is guilty and needs to pay the price. The angry me is tempted to take her to small claims court to get the $250.00 back that she cost me, but the rational me realizes that it just more time off work and more money out of my pocket to file. Chances are, even if the judgement is in my favor, she won't have the money and I would never see it.

I have until Monday to decide what I want to do and will call the courts back then with a decision. The woman I spoke to was very nice and understands completely why I don't want to do it. She was in a similar situation not too long ago, and can totally relate. I don't think she would ever approach me face to face, but I worry that she and her family/friends could vandalize our house or worse yet, hurt one of our dogs.

I would also testify. Do your dogs stay outside during the day? If so, just keep them in where she can't get to them.

[Kfancii]

I would also testify. Do your dogs stay outside during the day? If so, just keep them in where she can't get to them.

They have a doggie door and go in and out. Both DH and I are gone too many hours each day for work to leave them inside all day. :( We have 4 big fur-kids and anyone in their right mind would be scared to get anywhere close to them as the smallest of the bunch is 50+lbs, but I worry, and obviously this woman isn't in her right mind.

[Whitewater]

You can take steps to avoid retaliation. For one thing, you can ask for an order that means immediate arrest if she's within a set amount of space from you or your property, which means that your house and your dogs both will be safe.

Secondly, if she does do something anyway (particularly if she violates any order), she will go to jail for it, so she'll eventually be totally out of your hair.

Thirdly, she has some serious offences lined up against her right now, and she might go to jail anyway if you testify. If you don't, it's a certainty that they will have to let her go. And if that happens, she will probably continue on her reckless path and wind up actually hurting somebody.

I believe you need to testify against her. Your fears are valid, but that's why there are things such as restraining orders and other protections in place. You can have the police step up their presence on your street, for example, doing drive-bys often so as to deter anybody who might want to cause you harm.

You can also protect yourself and your pets by getting a video security system that you can hook up to your computer. It will record the activity in your yard -- and if you make it obvious, a video security system has been proven to be a deterrent. You can also look into getting a security system for your home, like Brinks or another company. It's not much per month, and it has also been proven to be a deterrent to lawbreakers.

We also have a lot of light around our house. Light is also a proven deterrent. Nobody wants to be breaking in or vandalizing or whatever when they can be seen as clear as day! We have a light over our garage door, lights in our garage, a light on our side door, a light at our front door, and soon we'll be installing solar garden lights, to mark the path between our side door and our back gate, near our garage. Not only are they pretty (and will keep the dogs off, so the grass has a chance to grow back), but they will also be functional anti-crime measures. And of course, we have a streetlight out front and a streetlight in the alley out back, but those aren't ours, of course.

If you don't testify, this woman won't ever have to pay for what she's done. There is no way she'll be held accountable.

You may have to change your routine with your dogs or be a bit more vigilant for a while, but I believe it's worth it.

When we lived in a duplex (we lived there for just over a year, until we moved), our downstairs neighbors were terrible. They were gangsters, drug dealers, and god knows what else. We smelled weed practically daily, coming up from a door that led directly into their floor, and once I came home to find the police were conducting a raid. They found drugs and a gun, which they confiscated.

They stole two of my hubcaps, my radio's faceplate (apparently they didn't realize that the actual radio was still in the car . . . ), and a bunch of my stuff when I accidentally left the car open one night, they threatened our neighbors and the whole block went in fear of these gangster thugs.

I called the police. And kept calling. Every time they did something wrong I was on them like white on rice. When they stole our mail, two cops showed up at their door and forced them to hand over my package. Which they'd deliberately stolen and then kept.

And we had a dog at the time, also a cat. Since we didn't have a yard, we had to walk the dog over to an empty grass-grown lot at the end of the block, and to do this we had to walk right by these miserable piles of human waste 3 and 4 times a day.

They never did a thing. I think they sensed that if they even attempted to do anything to either me or my dog, I would have killed them. And then I would have had the police arrest the survivors.

My point is: Living in fear of retaliation doesn't solve anything. You can't assume she'll do something to you. Maybe she won't. And if she does, maybe it won't be that bad. Like the filth we lived over -- all they did was take my car's radio faceplate. Big whoop. It was $100 to get a new radio (I needed a new radio because to replace the faceplate would have been $250. Crazy, right?). And I can live without two hubcaps.

I would go to court. If you testify, there's a good chance that she won't be able to harm you at all because they'll put her away for a while!

Good luck!


Whitewater

[Kfancii]

Thanks Whitewater! You have made alot of good points in your post. We live about 45 miles away from where the accident happened, so she would have to really make an effort to do something, but I can't help but be a little uneasy, not so much because of girl, but because of the folks that showed up at the gas station where she was arrested. (She had called them from her cell while fleeing the scene)

We live in a small town, and in our subdivision there are currently only 5 houses that have been built. All of our neighbors work during the day too, and there are not alot of eyes around while we are all gone. We don't have much of a police presence around our place, but I'm sure that if something were to happen, they would be there. I am going to talk to my DH this weekend and maybe we will investigate the camera option. I can see this being beneficial even without the fear of retaliation.

I am really leaning towards testifying because all of you are correct. If I don't, she gets away with everything and that is just wrong. I still wish it would all just go away!

[kgvettegirl]

Think of it this way. So far she has not killed anyone. You need to stop her before she kills herself or someone else.

[gwenshack]

I would testify, although I would be apprehensive about it. I hear ya on this one, big time. People are scary! I hope everything turns out ok.

[Gertie]

I hate to say this but if she wanted to get you she has had your info all this time and she already knows you called the police. I am not saying it's impossible, but it seems less likely she'd pull anything at the point of her court date. Although...we can already tell she's an idiot so it IS possible. Take all reasonable steps to protect yourself such as keeping doors and windows locked and not traveling alone at night whenever possible, etc, but testify. You already said if you don't, she walks. I'll grant you given our screwed up court systems, she will probably just get a slap on the wrist in the form of a fine, possibly some time cleaning roadsides, but you never know. She obviously already has been in trouble with the law given the details you mentioned so maybe she will get something sterner. One can only hope. If you blow this off and do not testify, and the next day she drives off and kills someone, you are basically an accessory to the crime. Or at least that is how I would feel about it, and I would never be able to live with myself.

[Moon.Dust.]

I say do it. If you're that concerned for your safety make sure to get a PPO on her.

[Kfancii]

Court begins at 3:00 p.m. today and I'm going to testify. I sure hope that it is uneventful, but that she doesn't escape the ticket or fine! I'll let ya'll know more tomorrow!

[PGDesigns]

Good luck!

[WebLady]

Hope it goes well!

[Nekochanpurr]

Good luck!!!

[Kfancii]

So I got to the court room about 25 minutes early and not too long after I arrived, the lady that hit me came in. There was another case going on at the time, and when they took a recess, the officer who was the witness in that case sat down next to her and they were talking. I overheard the conversation and that is when I realized that my fears of retalition were probably silly.

Not to be ugly, but I really don't think this girl is all that bright. She was in court and had two tickets she was trying to get dismissed, and didn't bother to bring either ticket. That tells me that she probably doesn't have the folder the officers gave her back in December with my info on it anymore.

The officer from the other case told her that if there wasn't a witness to appear on behalf of the state, that the case would have to be dismissed. She got all excited at that point and thought she was going to get off scott free. Little did she know I was sitting right behind her. Well, about that time, the prosecutor came into the court room and got me. He asked me what happened, I gave him the rundown of the accident. He told me that the other people she hit didn't appear, so that charge would be dropped, but that he was going to give her the opportunity to plead guilty to hitting me. If she did that, there wouldn't be a need for a trial. I went back into the courtroom and he called her to the hallway. Ten minutes later he came back and said that she had plead guilty and I was free to go. I asked him what the punishment was for her and he told me that she would have to pay a fine of $277 and would have an additional three points on her suspended license and with one more offense, she would be facing surcharges on her license when she got it back. He said that most likely her license had been suspended for habitual traffic citations.

I'm glad that I went and she didn't get away free on my accident. I don't think it will keep her off the roads, but at least I feel like I did my part to try to make that happen.

[dylansmom011908]

Good for you!

I just wish you could have gotten your money back and maybe she would have gotten jail time considering this wasn't her first offense.

But at least you stood up and did what was right. Hopefully now you can finally put this behind you once and for all.

[Kfancii]

Good for you!

I just wish you could have gotten your money back and maybe she would have gotten jail time considering this wasn't her first offense.

But at least you stood up and did what was right. Hopefully now you can finally put this behind you once and for all.

Thanks so much! I wish there was a way to get the additional money back, but I guess I chalk this up as a lesson learned to not place my insurance deductible higher than I really have money to pay in case of an accident. It stinks that life isn't fair, but what do you do about it?

I believe that she served some jail time after the accident, but I don't think it was more than 1 night.

[WebLady]

Glad you went; too bad you coudn't get more of your money back, but I guess you did all you could ... at least you had insurance. Hopefully this chick will learn how drive *erm*

[FFC]

Wow.. a whopping $277. That's rediculous. I know if I pulled that **** I wouldn't get off that easily.

[Kfancii]

Wow.. a whopping $277. That's rediculous. I know if I pulled that **** I wouldn't get off that easily.

Yeah, I didn't think that was too much considering she was driving on a suspended license, but the prosecutor said that she had managed to dig herself in to a pretty big hole and would have a tough time getting out of it. She got lucky on the other ticket - since the other driver didn't show, she got off on it! She was probably facing over $500 in fines for both offenses.

[Karyanne20]

I would testify. It is very unlikely that she will do anthing to you. These things rarely happen in real life.