Colorado Hit and Run Laws Providing Incentive to Flee the Scene - May Change
A Recent Denver Post article points out an anomaly in the law
" End incentive for fleeing scene of a bad accident"
The scenario is this. Intoxicated driver gets into an accident. Realizes that if he or she stays at the scene and calls the police as the law requires - they will be charged with DUI.
They make the decision to leave the scene
This is the rub. Without reaching the moral aspect of this decision - the police are put in a very difficult position as the evidence of what occurred most often leaves with the suspect.
The article in the post lists several incidents involving injuries in hit and run accidents.
It is true. A "hitch" in the laws "actually creates an incentive to flee an accident if the driver is drunk"
If an idividual stays at the scene and there are injuries to the victims of the accident... the charge will be Vehicular Assault - a Class 4 felony.
Not only is that charge much more significant than the misdemeanor Hit and Run charge -(if that charge can be proven) - it is a crime that is identified under the law as a "strict liability" cirme - meaning that other than identifying the driver as intoxicated - there is no legal defense to the crime.
H. Michael's Take
Prosecutors often take a very hard line in these cases... seeking prison if they can prove their case. This "no prisoners" approach to prosecuting these cases in the already impossibly harsh political environment for DUI prosecutions has actually made fleeing the scene of a serious DUI accident a "logical alternative" to accepting responsibility for one's actions.
If the public perceived more compassion in these unintended accidents - the fear driven decision to leave the scene would no longer seem to be the "only way out."
To Read more: see the Editorial: End incentive for fleeing scene of a bad accident - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_18131397#ixzz1OmZC7c69
