BMW K1600 Forum banner

Rear ended by drunk driver

19K views 119 replies 57 participants last post by  Muchmore 
#1 ·
Well, it finally happened. We were putting around in a local neighborhood when I noticed some traffic catching us from behind. So....I told the wifey thru the helmet that I was going to pull off to the shoulder and let them pass because I knew, we would hold up traffic.

Like a typical drunk, he followed the lights. Steered right into us on the shoulder. We were sitting dead still and he put his F150 blue oval right in the middle of our third brake light at 30-40mph. Pushed us 30ft maybe?

At the last minute, I looked in my mirror to see a headlight RIGHT THERE but I thought it was his passenger side and he might clip us as he went by but, oh no, it was his driver's side and he squared us up and smacked us. I had enough time to say WTF in the mic.

Both saddlebags exploded, exhaust pushed up almost to the passenger's foot pegs, license plate holder was wedged in between the back tire and the shock, in front of the tire!

The wife is a little short so the top case and headrest kept her protected fairly well only suffering leg and abdominal strains. I had enough time to grip the handlebars but not enough to go full brace for impact so it pulled my arms out so dang hard it broke a bone in my right hand, tore my right rotator cuff and tore ligaments in my shoulder. I also got my left foot caught under the bike while sliding and the toe of my boot caught, which spun my foot around and broke my ankle.

A very, very nice couple was right behind this guy and came running up. They were very, upset also. They said he had been swerving all over for several blocks and they KNEW something was going to happen. We "assume" he was at a local watering hole and thought he could one-eye it home. People came from everywhere. All of the nearby houses cleared out because it was so loud. People brought my wife water, gave me a bag to collect all my stuff, it was nice.

The guy got out of his truck and walked up to us, he was smashed. Smelled of alcohol, staggered a little, but he obviously knew what happened because he snuck out of the crowd and got into his truck and took off. He laid rubber right thru the middle of our crowd as people dove out of the way. No one was hurt during the jettison. He didn't say a word.

The witness that was following was very upset and speaking with 911 when he drove off, I jumped on the running board but when he started to move I jumped off just yelling, turn your truck off, turn your truck off.

The operator was trying to get the witness to give any details as he drove off but it was really just too fast and we were simply not focused.

As we stood there wondering what the heck we were going to do and asking the crowd if anyone got any truck pictures I stumbled on something and realized...

He had knocked his front license plate off when he hit us, it was right there.

The police responded to our scene and also to his home where he had run inside and refused to come out. We had a relative pick us up and drive us to the ER and when we went past his house, the police had it totally lit up and were on a bullhorn yelling for him to come out.

We found out later they got tired of waiting and eventually just left, leaving him to sleep it off in his own house while we set in the ER until 2:45 am.

There is more to the story after this but I will wait for some resolve before spoiling it. But for now, I am officially in the bike buying market again. Luckily his insurance has been very receptive.
 

Attachments

See less See more
6
#40 ·
So he's not only a drunk, but a coward too! What a pathetic POS. Best wishes towards a speedy and full recovery, and pleasant dreams of what that next "ride" will look like!
 
#41 ·
Hey Muchmore: What law enforcement agency was this? I would be interested to know. Each state has their own laws pertaining to when you can enter a house/home without a warrant in a situation like yours. It all kind of bounces back to a persons home is his castle. If the police weren't in actual pursuit of the subject they usually can't just kick the door and go in. A case for immediate entry "may" have been justified if witnesses saw him go into the house. Time also becomes the enemy of the police depending on how much has lapsed between when he was last seen and how long he was actually in the house.

There are a ton of laws that are involved in a situation like this, but in my experience they should not have just left the residence if he was actually in it. It's more work, but they could have called an emergency number with the prosecutors office and requested an entry warrant and an on-call judge or court commissioner could have signed it. Some jurisdictions even authorize a signature via telephonic communication or electronic signature. Not really a big deal today like it was in the past. With both you and your wife injured it certainly was an exigent situation and efforts to obtain blood evidence for intoxication and/or drugs should have been made. Most larger agencies know how to handle these situations, but some smaller ones don't. As was stated their biggest concern should have been if they leave it gives him, the suspect, the opportunity of getting back into a vehicle while he is still intoxicated. I would bet at his age he also probably has prior DUI/OWI arrests. Sadly I'll bet the detective will try to get a pound of flesh out of this guy by charging him with leaving the scene of an injury crash and perhaps failure to render aid and leave information, but that's not the same as going after him for causing injury through intoxicated use of a motor vehicle. I wonder if the guy has a valid license? I am not sure suing the department will accomplish much, but who knows. They may have been told by the prosecutors office to leave. Let us know what happens and hope the best for you and your wife...…


Rick H.
 
#42 ·
like you mentioned Rick since the police didn't actually witness the event they could not have immediate access to his house so it was his castle until a warrant could be issued that in this particular town could take 4 to 6 hours during the night. but I have just learned he was charged with two felonies today and I believe they're going to pick him up on Easter weekend
 
#51 ·
Every municipality or jurisdiction is different, I found that out working on a state agency. Go into a different town, city or county and things change. They must really be behind times if it takes them 4 to 6 hours to get a search/entry warrant. The last one I went for about 10 years ago took all of about an hour. Most jurisdictions have "on-call" prosecutors and judges/commissioners during off hours to process these incidents in a rapid manner. Years and years ago it was relatively common to walk away from a house like they did in your case, but today with almost immediate communications that should never happen.

There are ways even hours after the incident took place to determine a persons blood alcohol content at the time of the offense even when a known length of time has lapsed. There couldn't have been that much time lapse between the crash and when they got to his residence. If the vehicle was at the residence it should have been impounded as evidence even if they decided against making entry. I wasn't the smartest state cop on the road, but it sure sounds like someone dropped the ball in your case. The evidence of intoxication was paramount to the offense(crash) and his future record and he got a big break by them not getting a warrant. My guess is the felonies are for leaving the scene of an injury related crash, count #1 for you and count #2 for your wife. While they are serious charges, they certainly don't have the weight of a DUI/OWI related crash involving injury coupled with leaving the scene. Probably best you not say what jurisdiction this took place in for your own best interest. I would still be interested in this guys prior record though. Good luck with this situation.


Rick H.
 
#46 ·
I'm glad that you too are ok. That happened to me back in 2011 on my brand new H-D Wide Glide stopped at a bottle neck on the Freeway. I got hit by a 23 year old Gal texting on her cell phone, hit me at 50 mph, I was squished between her and the Mercedes in front of me. Not Fun...
 
#48 ·
Sorry to hear about this sir. Please have a quick and peaceful recovery. Look forward to reading about your return.
 
#49 ·
Glad you'll live to see more beautiful mountains, rivers, and lakes.

I hope your wife didn't get scared off riding by this horrible experience. My ex-wife and I got sideswiped at 50mph by someone getting on the highway, swooping across all 3 lanes at once. We got banged up pretty good, but nothing broken or permanent. She never wanted to get on a bike again, and that, plus a hundred more reasons, is why she is my "ex"-wife.

I always joke that my ex-wife would tap me on the leg to slow down, and my current wife of 26 years, taps me on the leg to speed up!!! :)

A huge MTA worker on a Harley riding behind us, saw all of the event in real time, and stopped all the traffic behind us so we didn't get run over as we were "rollin' on down the highway". He picked me and my wife up (individually) and guided us to the side grass, then picked my bike up, and worked it off the road, too.

When all was over, he looked at us and said, "Should have gotten a Harley"! Yeah…that would have helped :wink:
 
#50 ·
I'm going to take a guess that the perp has some type of connections. Looking forward to the update.
They've taken one of the biggest charges off of the table, "DUI". My understanding is DUI with leaving the scene are very serious infractions.
Lawyers will be pounding on your door for sure!
 
#52 ·
Well everything you said is about spot on. The one thing that I don't understand, is they didn't take his truck into custody. The police arrived at his house within 1-2 minutes of him getting in. So your right they did not have first hand observation of him driving or arriving. The license plate was left at the scene, there were several witnesses, the truck showed damage, the garage door was open with lights on and the truck was diagnal in the driveway/yard.

I talked to a captain about how it was handled and although I don't necessarily agree, I did believe his assessment. This is a town with 110k people and judges in the middle on the night at just not accessable.
 
#54 ·
OK, now I can say I am shocked. I don't know where this took place, but something isn't right there. Normally a felony case isn't handled at the local level and it goes to a state charge which kicks it up to a state prosecutor. I can understand a municipal prosecutor and magistrate not being available, but not at the state or county level. They simply HAVE to be available. These people are assigned "on-call" dates solely so these cases are handled professionally and in a timely manner, with emphasis on obtaining arrest and search warrants after normal business hours.


NOT taking the vehicle as evidence really has me confused. A registration plate assigned to the suspect vehicle is found at the scene of a multiple injury crash and the vehicle it is assigned to is found minutes later at the alleged owners residence in an OPEN garage in plain sight. There is absolutely no expectation of privacy or security when a building is left open and no search warrant is required at that point. Therefore the police had every right to enter the garage, check to make sure the vehicle was the one reported to be involved in the crash and impound it as evidence of possible use in a criminal act. Once impounded the vehicle could then have been inventoried and forensically checked for evidence pertaining to the crash. I hope the witnesses can identify the driver of the vehicle they saw at the scene, because I can foresee the owner saying someone stole his truck and he wasn't aware of it being taken, because he had been drinking at home and fell asleep. Sorry to say, but I thought shoddy work like this in the criminal justice arena ended a long, long time ago. When a police agency doesn't know what procedure to follow in cases like this all they have to do is pickup a cellphone and call someone who knows the process. It really isn't that difficult, time consuming yes, but come on...….I sure hope their later investigative work was better than their on-scene work.


Rick H.
 
#56 ·
Ok, great great answers you guys thank you. So Rick you were right again on the felony charge from the county. Several days after...the accident the local law submitted the case to Jackson county for felony prosecution. They were turned down because of the workload. The county would ONLY accept big drug or murder case with higher priority. They kicked it back down to city level.

While I was telling my wife the story she mentioned, I think we were in Cass county and by God she was right. So I called the local law and reminded them off our jurisdiction and he submitted the case to Cass county and it was accepted.

It turns out the night at the scene was spent with his father in law being allowed to enter the home with the expectation he could convince the drunk to come out and turn himself in. Which he did not. Audible yelling could be heard from the police position in the yard.

Really exactly what you and Tom have described is spot on, except, there was no entry, only letting a relative go in.
 
#61 ·
This incident just gets more confusing by the minute and complex I am afraid to say. Hard to believe the police investigating this don't know what county they were in. Was this on a county line roadway? Or something else that would add to the confusion of where it took place? Perhaps this other county prosecutor could have obtained a search/arrest warrant a little quicker than 4 or more hours.


Rick H.
 
#64 ·
This may have been stated, but along with you and your wife surviving this potentially lethal situation, by all means, get a good attorney to find out what your rights are, as well as appropriate monetary reimbursement for pain and suffering for both you and your wife. I wish you the best, and many more years in the saddle!!!

Terry


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#65 ·
This is really a good discussion. Very eye opening to the layperson.. @Muchmore, I feel for you and your wife and wish you both a speedy and healthy recovery. Thank you for sharing this with us. From your account, it boggles my mind that it would be handled in such a seemingly negligent manner. I’ve served many times on different juries and though I support our justice system, it does not always play out in support of the victim and tends to protect the guilty too much. Or at least that’s how an attorney can spin it. In your situation, having been limited to injuries only (thank God), I wonder if things would have gone the same had one or both of you not survived... if so would LE have handled it differently? To me there should be no distinction between them but I bet there is.....

Again heal strong and thank you for sharing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Muchmore
#66 ·
Glad you’re ok, pissed off at the police response... It’s actions like this that give all of us a bad name, sometimes justifiably. Make a report to the relevant internal affairs and talk to your local press.
I worked internal affairs for five years, loved locking up crooked cops and taking the jobs off the lazy or corrupt ones.
 
#68 · (Edited)
In my opinion your "pissed off "reaction and recommended actions are unwarranted. :grin:

We have a silly 4th Amendment protecting our citizens from unreasonable search; it basically prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures (as determined by the courts not the cops) and requires any search warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.

Courts make us do silly things like always read Miranda rights subsequent to arrest and prior to questioning and always getting warrants for search and seizures whenever dealing with personal property (with very few and court limited exemptions). Early court decisions limited the amendment's scope to a law enforcement officer's physical intrusion onto private property. But with Katz v. United States (1967), the Supreme Court held that its protections, such as the warrant requirement, extend to the privacy of individuals as well as physical locations.

The exclusionary rule is one way the amendment is enforced. Established in Weeks v. United States (1914), this rule holds that evidence obtained through a Fourth Amendment violation is generally inadmissible at criminal trials.

When there is ANY doubt, from the first day at the San Diego Regional Police Academy we were taught and it was emphasized, once public safety was maintained ALWAYS err on the side of getting that warrant when dealing with the public in their "castles".

In this case, once an arrest wasn't made at the scene, nor a direct or immediate pursuit initiated, the suspects location and evidence was known to be on private property, there was no reason not to maintain a secure perimeter until a warrant was obtained even if it took hours.

Mistakes may have been made but jumping to the conclusion that there might be "crooked or lazy cops" involved, requiring "internal affair or local press action" is simply bad advice for the known facts.

Tom
 
#73 · (Edited)
I am curious to what extent "private property" extends. What if I live in an RV (caravan)? Or in my car for that matter? Do protections extend only to fixed buildings on the owned property? If I live in a mobile home (owned by me) which is parked on leased land, can the person holding the lease grant access to the domicile, mobile though it may be?

I just realized I came in with the wrong lead in... @Muchmore, I am very glad this wasn't worse. I hope the accident is behind you soon, with remedies in place.

I have to say this is one example scenario of why I put cameras (and mic) with a DVR on my ride. Actually, that does bring up an interesting point; I absolutely do have the right to video the crime in progress from the vantage of the front and back of the motorcycle. The question is do I also have the right to video the incompetency of the police?
 
  • Like
Reactions: K16guy
#74 ·
Oh man, I started reading and had a thousand thoughts going about "mobile homes" likes RV's.

That is a great question!!! Really I stopped paying attention to the wreck narrative of this story 2 pages ago and I'm loving this law talk ?

I just realized I came in with the wrong lead in... @Muchmore, I am very glad this wasn't worse. I hope the accident is behind you soon, with remedies in place.

I have to say this is one example scenario of why I put cameras (and mic) with a DVR on my ride.
 
#87 ·
Salvage info

Well, I've got all the numbers in order.
2013 BMW K1600 GTL
20k miles
Excellent shape
Base actual cash value (ACV) $13,950
Salvage value $4112

The big deal here is there is serious tranny noise when moving. IT was rear-ended hard enough I think it shoved the tire/drive shaft in far enough to damage some output gear/shaft internally.

Left side plastics--gone
All 3 bags--gone
Engine--OK
Seat and right side plastics are OK
Instrument cluster OK
Rear sub-frame--gone
Shock--questionable but no visible damage
Front tire/plastic--OK
Gas tank--OK
Seats--OK
pretty much from the tank forward is OK, I think.

Not for sure it's worth keeping without a tranny to sell.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top