Florida Personal Injury Lawyers Blog
What do you do when you are the victim of a Leaving the Scene of an Accident in Florida? Pinellas County police have arrested a 25-year-old Largo woman after she allegedly struck a 32-year-old man with her vehicle and left the scene of the accident. Deputies have charged the woman with aggravated battery with a motor vehicle and resisting arrest after she hit and injured the man.
When purchasing your auto insurance it is imperative that you purchase Under and/or Uninsured Motorist (UM) protection. This specific type of insurance is sold by most reputable auto insurance companies and can be used to cover damages sustained when the at-fault party has no insurance or not enough insurance to cover the full extent of your damages. Unfortunately, in today’s economy everyone is looking to stretch the dollar and the amount of coverage on an auto policy can be the first to go. There is no exception to this rule –you must purchase UM to fully protect yourself and family from accidents like the one described here. For instance, had the vehicle never been found which allegedly caused this accident, the victim would have been able to make a claim on his UM policy as the at-fault driver was unknown, therefore was uninsured. This scenario is sometimes referred to as a “phantom vehicle”.
Police responded to the scene around 8:50 p.m. on Wednesday and reported that the Largo woman approached the man on the side of the street, whom she had a prior dispute with, in her vehicle and began yelling at him. According to the St. Petersburg Times, around 25 to 30 people surrounded the woman’s car and the man punched her in the face while another individual pepper sprayed inside the vehicle through the driver’s side window.
The woman allegedly hit the gas and slammed into the man.
The Largo woman allegedly dropped her car off with another person who stopped at gas station to clean up the pepper spray.
Deputies arrested the woman later on and the arrest report shows the woman was uncooperative, pulling her hands and body away from them.
She is being held at the Pinellas County jail with bail set at $20, 150.
Police say the investigation is ongoing.
National government statistics show that nearly 11 percent of all motor vehicle accidents are hit and run car accidents. Almost 700,000 hit and run accidents involving a car are reported every year in the United States. The National Highway Administration shows that the state of Florida ranks third in the nation with 3,300 hit-and-run accidents reported yearly.
The woman in this case hit a man with her vehicle and fled the scene, leaving the man injured. Florida law is clear that the driver of any vehicle involved in a collision must stop and wait at the scene of the accident. Breaching this requirement is viewed as a hit and run and could cause a violator to face criminal felony charges, suspension of their driver’s license, court-demanded community service, and other civil or administrative fines.
If you have been injured in a hit and run accident in the state of Florida, contact the Florida Personal Injury Attorneys at the Law Offices of Whittel & Melton, LLC online or call 1-866-608-5LAW (5529).