What would you do?

[Hay Dude]

I completely agree and that's one reason why I did call it in, follow the car, and waited for the state troopers.

Lets just say all country "folk" aren't as nice as we claim country "folk" to be in my neck of the woods. Reality is we have some VERY interesting people in my area, some who don't care about others and the law. End of the day, I just don't want problems with people, particularly those that live around me. Now I have to testify in court with the woman and her family in court, which in all honesty, I really don't care to do. Kind of black and white as to what I saw, it was reported, I waited, the troopers (sat around for about an hour out of my work time) who found the woman. Not certain why a sworn statement wouldn't work.

When you witness something egregious like that, you have to show your face and prove your convictions of what you saw. After all, you were the one who got the ball rolling on this. Now its you who has to make their case. Youre the lead witness. The defendant has a lot to lose in money and freedom.
Think of it this way, if our justice system allowed anyone to just phone-in accusations of crimes ay any level, we’d have a lot of false accusations of crimes. It allows citizens to destroy each other’s lives by false accusation.

 

[RandyT]

My best friend and another friend were killed by a guy who had been drinking but BAC below legal limits on my 16th birthday.

Same driver 11 years later blew a stoplight t-boned a mini van with a family of five killing the mother instantly and one of the daughters died of injuries a day later. Again he had been drinking but was under the legal limit.

You’re not being a rat, you’re being a garbage collector. Take out the damn trash.

In Illinois you can get a DUI at BAC of .04 if you appear to be under the influence.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've called in several and never contacted for follow-up and sometimes told to call non-emergency and not to use 911 for hit and run.

If you are traveling with a cell a 911 call is exempt from Hands Free rules.

One time I asked for non emergency number and 911 was not happy about it but did provide when said could not transfer...

It was a recording saying to call back during normal business hours...

Many things are no longer 911 worthy like coming home and finding you have been burglarized... instead directed to go online to make report with no police response...

 

[PILOON]

Well Saturday on my way home I observed a vehicle down a small ravine laying on its side and no signs of tracks in the overnight snow.
Also some 4-6 saplings were broken.
It was obvious that speed was a cause as the site was just after a curve.
I called it in as there was no question of my crawling thru 4 ft of snow without snowshoes besides (I'm 82 and suffer from COPD.)
Could well have been a person lying unconscious inside.

Sure would have appreciated a follow up from the LEOs on this.

 

[NCL4701]

I completely agree and that's one reason why I did call it in, follow the car, and waited for the state troopers.

Lets just say all country "folk" aren't as nice as we claim country "folk" to be in my neck of the woods. Reality is we have some VERY interesting people in my area, some who don't care about others and the law. End of the day, I just don't want problems with people, particularly those that live around me. Now I have to testify in court with the woman and her family in court, which in all honesty, I really don't care to do. Kind of black and white as to what I saw, it was reported, I waited, the troopers (sat around for about an hour out of my work time) who found the woman. Not certain why a sworn statement wouldn't work.

Aware it’s a difficult position to be in. Several years ago, I was part (not all) of the reason an elderly gentleman with Alzheimer’s lost his license and insurance after he attempted to drive 4 miles north of his house to a hardware store in the small rural community to pick up some screws and ended up 30 miles south driving the wrong way on an interstate. Thankfully no serious injuries by some miracle. His wife, who was clear headed, physically fit, and perfectly capable of driving, didn’t have the backbone to stop him. She and a few members of the community (mostly his family members) were incensed with me for my part in grounding him as it was “none of my business”. I explained to them so long as he’s driving the same roads I do it IS my business and they could all go pound sand if they disagreed. Wasn’t long before they found out many members of the little community agreed with my position and wanted him off the road before he killed himself and/or one of them.

I’m well aware it’s an uncomfortable position and a distasteful duty but is something that has to be done. If the individual won’t control their own actions the community (which includes you and me) has to assist in doing it for them. And remember, you’re just establishing facts. You aren’t convicting or sentencing anyone. That’s up to others who also have to live in that community. So long as you accurately report the facts without embellishment those facts just are what they are.

Edit: And a sworn statement won’t work because if it goes to trial the accused has the right to cross examine any witnesses. Unless there’s some sort of plea deal to avoid a trial, any witnesses used by the prosecution or defense have to show up and testify under oath to be examined by both the prosecution and defense.

 

[MossRoad]

Aware it’s a difficult position to be in. Several years ago, I was part (not all) of the reason an elderly gentleman with Alzheimer’s lost his license and insurance after he attempted to drive 4 miles north of his house to a hardware store in the small rural community to pick up some screws and ended up 30 miles south driving the wrong way on an interstate. Thankfully no serious injuries by some miracle. His wife, who was clear headed, physically fit, and perfectly capable of driving, didn’t have the backbone to stop him. She and a few members of the community (mostly his family members) were incensed with me for my part in grounding him as it was “none of my business”. I explained to them so long as he’s driving the same roads I do it IS my business and they could all go pound sand if they disagreed. Wasn’t long before they found out many members of the little community agreed with my position and wanted him off the road before he killed himself and/or one of them.

I’m well aware it’s an uncomfortable position and a distasteful duty but is something that has to be done. If the individual won’t control their own actions the community (which includes you and me) has to assist in doing it for them. And remember, you’re just establishing facts. You aren’t convicting or sentencing anyone. That’s up to others who also have to live in that community. So long as you accurately report the facts without embellishment those facts just are what they are.

Edit: And a sworn statement won’t work because if it goes to trial the accused has the right to cross examine any witnesses. Unless there’s some sort of plea deal to avoid a trial, any witnesses used by the prosecution or defense have to show up and testify under oath to be examined by both the prosecution and defense.

That reminded me of many years ago, being at a stop light on my motorcycle. It was 2 lanes. I was in the right lane. There was a car in the left lane next to me. All of a sudden I feel my left leg getting pushed forward slowly, and realize there is some old guy in another car trying to squeeze between the car in the left lane and my. It hooked the back of me left knee on his right front fender and starting pushing me over to my right. l look back and he's just sitting there inching forward. I started pounding on his hood and I jumped over to the other side of my bike and pounded on the passenger window and yelling at him to stop. He had a huge hearing aid in his right ear, and never even looked at me. I finally had to dump the bike. I was young and angry and kicked in his right-rear fender. The light turned green and he slowly drove away.

Some folks were sitting at a bus stop bench and asked if I was OK. Yes, but yikes! I went into the Taco Bell on the corner and called the police and gave the description and license number.

I can't remember how long it was later, but the police did call me back. As I recall, they wanted to use me as leverage to get the guy to surrender his driving license. Apparently he'd been involved in several accidents in the past year, and the police were very familiar with him. So if I wouldn't press charges, his family would get him to surrender his license. I don't know what charges I could have pressed. No injury and no damage to the bike that was noticeable. But that's what they said. I said OK, and never heard anything more about it.

Felt kinda bad for an older person to lose their license, but on the other hand, it probably had to be done before someone else got seriously hurt.

 

[PILOON]

Couple of years back while driving home I saw puffs of smoke rising from a house.
I stopped for a better look and sure enough flames were showing plus more black smoke also saw 3 people jump out of a window. By this time I was taking pictures as well.
I had called 911 early and was on hold as they were verifying my authenticity B4 taking action.
Those delays ate up about 20 mins* B4 the fire trucks showed up from less than a 1/2 kilometer away, that is about a 5 min drive.
House was a total loss.
LEO's requested my photos for evidence but I never heard of any follow up.
Not even a thank you.

That fire was very close to a high school and I strongly suspect the three people were teens from it.
Their agility and general appearance suggested such.

* local fire dept is volunteer and regulations are that the engine only leaves when a full crew is on board, hence the delay.

 

[Sigarms]

When you witness something egregious like that, you have to show your face and prove your convictions of what you saw. After all, you were the one who got the ball rolling on this. Now its you who has to make their case. Youre the lead witness. The defendant has a lot to lose in money and freedom.
Think of it this way, if our justice system allowed anyone to just phone-in accusations of crimes ay any level, we’d have a lot of false accusations of crimes. It allows citizens to destroy each other’s lives by false accusation.

I don't disagree with you, but it's just like I told the DA.

1 - Red car hit church van
2 - Red car stayed in parking lot for 10-15 minutes with another guy out of his car talking with the lady (no clue at this point what she looked like).
3 - Red car left, I couldn't believe it, so I pulled out of the parking lot to follow.
4 - Car caught on fire somewhere, couldn't believe it.
5- Followed car so many miles on back road to driveway where it pulled into (out of sight from the road, did not follow).
6 - Call 911, took troopers an hour to get to end of driveway where I was waiting.
7 - Troopers took my statement.

Now, if I called it in, and the description of the vehicle looked like I told them and they saw the damage of the church van (about 3 miles away), the red car had white paint (from the church van I would assume) and the lady apparently didn't pass a sobriety test, I'm sorry, other than the facts of 1 through 7 above, nothing is going to change nor added to what I reported. Pretty cut and dry IMO.

At this point, I can't even remember how many doors the car had (2 or 4 door), have no clue who the guy was that stopped, nor can't even remember the lady or where the fire was in the car, other than thinking it was the engine (and I could be wrong there).

I phoned in a crime, and the state police verified that it did happen, apparently arrested the person and take my statement. Should be enough IMO as this isn't a murder who done it case.

 

[Boss 302]

Book em Danno!

 

[Hay Dude]

I don't disagree with you, but it's just like I told the DA.

1 - Red car hit church van
2 - Red car stayed in parking lot for 10-15 minutes with another guy out of his car talking with the lady (no clue at this point what she looked like).
3 - Red car left, I couldn't believe it, so I pulled out of the parking lot to follow.
4 - Car caught on fire somewhere, couldn't believe it.
5- Followed car so many miles on back road to driveway where it pulled into (out of sight from the road, did not follow).
6 - Call 911, took troopers an hour to get to end of driveway where I was waiting.
7 - Troopers took my statement.

Now, if I called it in, and the description of the vehicle looked like I told them and they saw the damage of the church van (about 3 miles away), the red car had white paint (from the church van I would assume) and the lady apparently didn't pass a sobriety test, I'm sorry, other than the facts of 1 through 7 above, nothing is going to change nor added to what I reported. Pretty cut and dry IMO.

At this point, I can't even remember how many doors the car had (2 or 4 door), have no clue who the guy was that stopped, nor can't even remember the lady or where the fire was in the car, other than thinking it was the engine (and I could be wrong there).

I phoned in a crime, and the state police verified that it did happen, apparently arrested the person and take my statement. Should be enough IMO as this isn't a murder who done it case.

Its cut and dried, yeah. The seriousness of the charge by the DA against the defendant is not. The simple act of you showing up I to give testimony adds to the seriousness of the nature of the charges and helps make their case.
Look at it this way, if the DA presented testimony from you as “Joe Blow called and said X-Y-Z” then it wouldnt carry the weight of hauling your butt downtown and giving testimony in person.