On the way home, I rolled up on a just happened car accident. As I pulled up, the two drivers were getting out of their car. Both seemed to be okay, although the one guy (whose back windshield and side window busted out) had glass in his hair and beard and asked me to check for lacerations for him. Nothing. No-fault driver (bearded man) apparently was sitting at a red light when at-fault driver came screaming up behind him, apparently not noticing the light was red. No-fault driver saw this, and started to move out of the way, but didn't get out of the way in time. He took a rear to drivers side impact. Both cars were totaled and smashed pretty good. Amazing no one was hurt. Now, here's my question. At-fault driver gets out, and is super hyper. I mean, I think he was on something. I don't know if it was drugs or alcohol, but I'm pretty sure he was on something. Some girl who knows him pulls up and dials someone else before anyone dialed 911, so I dialed 911. Next thing I know, At-fault driver has a huge wad of gum in his mouth and smells minty fresh. I mean, he didn't seem shady or anything, but definitely acted like he was on something. So then, I'm walking back to my car, and pass at-faults friend as she's still on the phone with whoever, talking about, "I can't leave him." and I hear her say DUI. That's all I heard. As the one that called it in (but didn't witness anything), I stayed till the cops got there to see if they needed me. I had every intention to sell this guy out if I was asked anything. They said they didn't need me, so I left. My question: Should I have told police that I thought the guy was on something, not knowing for sure if he was? Or would that be a dick move? The more I think about it, the more I'm glad I didn't say anything, but I hope the cops figure it out. It sucks to have some idiot cause that much strain in your life (been there, done that). At-fault's excuse was "I don't know what happened, and this weather is so crazy!" Yeah, it's cold, and snowing a little, but the roads were very driveable to perfectly clear. Especially in his Xterra.
An innocent person had their car smashed by what seems like a intoxicated/doped up driver. If this guy ended up getting away with it, he will probably do it again and maybe next time kill somebody instead. I would have sold him out. People like that need to be taken off the streets.
This is what I'm leaning towards, even though I hate drunk driving, and feel like I should have done something.
If the cops asked you, you better have told them. Otherwise, I'm of the opinion that you did your job by getting the cops there. They need to do theirs.
If you saw anything happen, you're a witness and you should help solve the case faster. I'm sure you'd want anyone else to contribute to solving your case if that no-fault guy were you. EDIT: I read that wrong and thought you had witnessed the actual wreck. I'd like to add that if the police say you're clear, you're good to go. You can't speculate on what you thought a guy was on. Are you a doctor, or someone with experience that knows this "hyper" feeling as the symptom to something?
I say don't jump to conclusions. Let it play out. I remember having a similar situation. It was 3-4 AM and I was driving home, entering the freeway. There was a Jeep flipped over on the shoulder and I was the only car. I pulled over, checked to see if anyone was hurt. There was an attractive girl who was standing by the Jeep. She looked intoxicated and her boobs were about to fall out of her little dress she had on. Another guy stopped to help, she wanted a ride home, and the guy volunteered to take her home. I called the cops and told them about the accident. I left and went home.
I was in an accident one time with a guy who ran a red light. After the accident and we were exchanging information, it seemed apparent he was intoxicated. There were two officers on the scene, one dealt with me, the other dealt with the other. I told the officer I suspect him of drunk or intoxicated driving. The police officer never once asked the man about it. I was pretty mad. This was Pasadena police though. I have seen the cop since then and some people that know some of the cops told me he doesn't like extra paperwork and is a lazy cop.
I think the cops are far more experienced in determining if someone is under the influence of a drug. They will probably look at the guy with scrutiny, put a light pen to his eyes if he is acting weird, so on. It's hard to say someone is on something or just hyper because they were just involved in an accident and their adrenaline if firing off. You can say something to the cops if you felt like it - I don't think you would be selling the guy out - I think the cops are going to see the same thing you are seeing anyway and make their own determination.
If a cop happens upon a scene and completely overlooks whether DUI is involved, then maybe they shouldn't be a cop. I'm sure they would have made that determination as part of their procedures. If you have to tell them based on something you overheard from a friend of the driver, then that is just wrong. It's not like you saw the driver throw drugs or beer cans in a ditch nearby or something. That would be different.
Sheesh, I would have been following the cops around like a puppy saying "he's drunk, he's drunk!!!" until I was sure they got the message. I would have stayed until they forced me to leave. What if a family was in the no-fault car? What if it was your family? A civilized society depends on good samaritans doing the right thing (i.e. reporting the drunk driver). Can't believe this is even a question. No mercy for drunk drivers. Like others have said, drunk driving is probably the first thing the cops check for at accidents like this, so most likely if he was drunk, they found out. Lets hope so, anyway.
If you thought he was on something, I'm pretty sure the officer, who's job is to investigate the situation, could figure out if he really was or not. No need to get involved unless you were asked. He could have just been a weirdo that can drive as well.
Sometimes the officer just wants to go home and not do DUI paperwork. An accident is a big deal to the people in it, sometimes life changing -- it's just another task to a cop.
This. Especially since no one actually got hurt. Its human nature that there will be lazy cops. That said, even if you mentioned it to an officer, I'm not sure that would've made them investigate it more closely.
