Common Mistakes Made When Under Investigation for Felony Hit & Run Charges - Criminal Lawyer Notes

Hiring a quality, locally experienced law firm, who tells you what you need to know to protect your freedom and future, not just what you want to hear, goes a long way in securing the best outcome possible for your criminal court case. This is especially true when accused of a (felony) hit and run. San Diego criminal lawyer David P. Shapiro explains further in this video.

Law Office of David P. Shapiro 3500 5th Avenue #304 San Diego, CA 92103 https://www.davidpshapirolaw.com/

- Hi, my name is David P. Shapiro. I'm the owner and Managing Partner of the Law Office of David P. Shapiro, located in San Diego, California where my firm helps good people regain control of their future when charged with a crime. In this video, I wanna talk about the most common mistake a lot of people make when they're under investigation for felony hit and run, or hit and run with injury in general, and that is they make statements to insurance or they make statements to the police confirming that they were driving at the time of the alleged hit and run. What am I supposed to say? Well, you're not supposed to be dishonest. You're not supposed to be deceitful. You're not supposed to be untruthful, but if you're going to admit driving, you're better off not saying anything at all. And the best approach, almost exclusively, whenever you're dealing with a hit and run case, whether it's hit and run involving property, hit and run involving serious injury, you know, whether you're facing a violent felony based on the extent of the injury alleged, or whether it's a basic hit and run misdemeanor, remember, not only do they need to prove, they being the prosecution, that the vehicle was involved in the collision, but that you were the one actually driving it, and a lot of times people get fouled up thinking that, well, you know, well, I need to admit that I was driving the vehicle in order for it to be covered by insurance. You know, I gotta worry about that. Couple of points on that. One is almost exclusively, we tell our clients, hey, listen, if you're charged with a felony drops you or boots you off from perspective or future coverage should be the least of your concerns. You're facing the loss of your freedom. You're facing opportunities that may no fact even charged let alone convicted of a felony. You potentially could lose your professional license if you're a real estate broker if you're a doctor, if you're a lawyer whatever the case may be, . Turns moving forward. And the other issue is, well, a lot of times people don't realize is that insurance wants a statement to make a determination whether or not they're on the hook or not. But you could say, yes, I'm calling to report an accident that my vehicle was involved in. Well, who was driving? Politely decline to answer that question. And what we will do a lot of times is we will go in and say, listen, it was someone who either the driver or the driver gave authority to, maybe the policy owner or the policy owner gave authority to. We don't need to go into any more than that for insurance to get what they need to . So don't get fooled thinking that you have to admit that you were driving and otherwise insurance may not cover it. They may try and tell you that, but that's not the case. And what you wind up doing, a lot of times, you're trying to placate or satisfy or keep, you know, insurance being your friend, and you wind up admitting to maybe the only part of the case. The only part . Of a hit and run that they may not be able to prove which is whether or not you were driving. A lot of times it's like, yeah, okay my vehicle was involved in a collision. The vehicle, you know, hit another vehicle, cops show up no one's in the car. Okay. Clearly the veh- Didn't do it . Whether a felony, a misdemeanor or whatever the case may be. But what's the thing that they still have to prove? Who was driving the vehicle? You're not gonna get convicted of a hit and run, whether a misdemeanor or a felony because your vehicle was involved in a collision or a vehicle was involved in a hit and run. They need to prove that you were in fact driving it beyond a reasonable doubt, just like they the prosecution needs to prove each and every element to the offense. So why do their job for them? So again, to summarize, in this video we talked about the most common mistake that we see a lot of people make when involved in an accident when involved in a hit and run. And that's they start talking either, whether it's to the cops or whether to insurance and admit that they were actually driving as opposed to limiting their statement to their vehicle, was involved in an accident,
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