Veil of Immunity?

[soniq]

A friend of mine got rear-ended in her cage. Never having been in an accident before, she was quite nervous and did not get any info other than the plate number of the car. So she gives this info to her insurance. They look it up and tell her that this plate number is not coming and therefore does not exist! This is AAA we're talking about here.

Fast forward two weeks later and as she is driving to work she sees the same guy in the same car again. The only reason she notices him is because he is driving like a fucktard. So she writes the plate number down again. When she gets home she sees that the plate number she wrote down was indeed correct.

So knowing some important people she decides to pull some strings and asks for help. Well check this out...the plate number belongs to a high ranking city official. So assuming that the driver is this official I guess he must have some sort of veil of immunity?

If the AAA can't look it up because it's being blocked by the DMV what would be her next recourse? Would a lawyer even touch this? This smells fishy don't it, and she's wondering if it could become an even bigger stink? All she wants is her out-of-pocket expense paid (the $500 deductible) and nothing else.

[Bad Dad]

you should repost this in the LEO forum......

[Max Smiley]

redirected!
-mod

[rwcfrank]

Most city state and federal authorities (cops judges mayors etc etc) are allowed to request confidentiality on their personal vehicles and those of immediate family members. The DMV does have the information..And AAA can access it for legitimate reasons. When the plate is run via the Police computer system it comes back" record not on file".

[Tom2]

veil of immunity for a regular or "high" city official? i don't think so... there is for emergency vehicles and this immunity does not apply to non emergency folk...


if it's a city / county owned vehicle, you can file a claim against said city / county for damages...

[silversvs]

I'd say that she marches down to the City where the car is registered to and explain the situation. In the City where I work ALL accidents involving City owned vehicles reqiure a full police investigation. If nobody at City Hall will help you, go to the City's police department and explain your case there. The only problem that can result is that she apparently pulled strings to get the info on the registration. If it comes out who accessed the DMV computer without proper authorization or reason, they can get dinged pretty hard.

[Razel]

City of Hayward, late 60's. Sergeant is giving a tour to some medium mucky-mucks. New computer terminal (CLETS) ties lot's of agencies together for information. Sergeant types in a name..."Eldridge Cleaver" and lots of information appears on the paper. Followed immediately by queries from Secret Service, FBI, Alameda County Sheriffs, Calif. State police...

Sometimes getting "dinged" can be quite an ordeal, too...

[ninja_rydr]

Post the plate #, and go to the DMV and file an accident report, if she hasn't do so. Also, contact the city police where this happened.

[soniq]

Happy ending here yet very strange. This friend of hers calls his friend who works at city hall to have him look into it, and lo and behold he is the driver of the car...how weird is that!

He admits to it, calls my friend and tells her not to worry...he will be come by and does so with a couple of checks in hand, one to cover her deductible and rental car, and another to pay AAA for the rest of the damages.

Obviously my friend was extremely lucky in this situation. This guy could easily have gotten away if my friend didn't have that connection. And interestingly this dood took care of it personally, not through the city, I'm guessing that it would not look good on his record considering his position. Hmmm...It's just not right ,but oh well everybody is happy.

[summitdog]

Wow. That is a great story. I've never come across a situation like that b/4. I did not know that certain officials could blank out their plates at DMV. Good to know.

Thanks for the tale.

Scotty

[arnoha]

Originally posted by silversvs
I'd say that she marches down to the City where the car is registered to and explain the situation. In the City where I work ALL accidents involving City owned vehicles reqiure a full police investigation. If nobody at City Hall will help you, go to the City's police department and explain your case there. The only problem that can result is that she apparently pulled strings to get the info on the registration. If it comes out who accessed the DMV computer without proper authorization or reason, they can get dinged pretty hard.

Sounds like a chicken and egg problem...knowing the information means that someone can get hit for providing it...but without it, you don't know where to turn.

[motorman4life]

Years ago, our previous Chief got into a fender bender with his city car behind the station and he gave the other driver his card and told them to send him the bill and he would pay it. This is totally against city and department policy. Damage was over $1000 total. Needless to say, when the troops got a hold of it, they had a heyday. Copies of the policies and blank SR-1 forms kept popping up in his mailbox for months.

The kicker was, about a month prior, one of our officers got nicked for touching up a 4 mm door ding with some white-out. He had opened his door into a pillar at the mall and didn't want to take the heat for not making out a report. Anyhow, he got a 5 year letter of reprimand from the Chief with a threat of future days off.

Don'cha just love it?

[Iszlandsnow]

Originally posted by motorman4life
The kicker was, about a month prior, one of our officers got nicked for touching up a 4 mm door ding with some white-out. He had opened his door into a pillar at the mall and didn't want to take the heat for not making out a report. Anyhow, he got a 5 year letter of reprimand from the Chief with a threat of future days off.

Don'cha just love it?

Sounds like typical wear and tear to me. I would be :later