Serious Injury Hit-And-Run Wreck In Tampa
Three people were inside a Jeep Liberty when a man driving a stolen Hyundai smacked into it, causing it to overturn.
Officers spotted the allegedly stolen vehicle near the intersection of 28th Street and 26th Avenue. The driver sped through a stop sign and hit a Jeep. The Hyundai driver ran away on foot, leaving three people trapped inside the overturned Jeep. Some Good Samaritans freed the victims. One woman was rushed to a nearby hospital with serious injuries.
Although they set up a perimeter, police didn’t catch the hit-and-run driver.
Car Crash Injuries
Every year, vehicle collisions seriously injure millions of Americans. Many of these injuries are difficult to diagnose and treat. Whiplash, a common car crash neck injury, is a good example.
A sudden impact, whether from the back or the side, causes the neck to violently snap back and forth. These unnatural motions usually injure nerves in the neck. If not promptly and properly treated, whiplash could cause paralysis.
Unfortunately for victims, such prompt and proper treatment is hard to obtain. Many emergency responders mistake initial whiplash symptoms, like neck pain, as soreness from the accident. At a subsequent medical examination, soft tissue injuries like whiplash do not show up on X-ray pictures and other common diagnostic reports.
So, car crash victims should immediately see experienced physicians who deal with vehicle collision injuries. These professionals know how to spot injuries like whiplash and treat them before they become too serious. A Tampa personal injury attorney can connect victims with such doctors, even if the victims have no insurance or money.
Internal bleeding is another good example. Emergency responders usually focus on external trauma injuries, like severe lacerations. They sometimes overlook internal injuries. The aforementioned violent motion causes internal organs to rub against each other. Since these organs have no protective skin layer, they bleed easily but gradually. Therefore, the victim might appear to be stable enough to transport, but the victim might still be bleeding on the inside.
Blood loss is a lot like whiplash in many ways. The longer this injury goes untreated, the worse it gets. Eventually, internal bleeding causes hypovolemic shock and organ shutdown. Few warning signs precede this event.
Issues in Hit-and-Run Collisions
Most people naturally stop to render aid after a crash. In fact, many people, like the ones in the above story who helped rescue these victims, go above and beyond. But some people fear the consequences of a crash. Frequently, people run away because they are uninsured. Florida has one of the highest percentages of uninsured drivers in the country.
Some victims believe that unless the tortfeasor (negligent driver) voluntarily remains at the scene or is apprehended almost immediately, they cannot obtain compensation for their injuries. But that’s not true.
Attorneys usually partner with private investigators to uncover additional evidence which is unavailable to emergency responders.
Surveillance video footage from a camera a few blocks away is a good example. Emergency responders usually do not look at this footage. But a camera might catch a glimpse of a vehicle’s license plate number. An attorney can use that bit of evidence to locate the vehicle’s owner.
Generally, it’s more likely than not that a vehicle’s owner was driving it at a particular time. Therefore, unless the owner has a very good alibi, such evidence is usually enough to establish liability in civil court. The burden of proof is only a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not).
Contact a Diligent Hillsborough County Lawyer
Fair compensation in a vehicle crash is often difficult, but seldom impossible, to obtain. For a free consultation with an experienced Tampa car accident lawyer, contact Mark H. Wright, PLLC. You have a limited amount of time to act.
Resource:
wfla.com/news/local-news/stolen-car-crashes-into-jeep-after-running-stop-sign-in-tampa-neighborhood-police-say/
