Hit-and-Run Inquiry After Scraping a Parked Car in Louisiana

Attorney Answer

Do not answer that letter yourself, and do not send your son to speak with the investigator — retain a Louisiana criminal defense lawyer first.

A letter inviting you to "resolve the issue" with the officer handling the case is an interview request in an open criminal investigation. The absence of charges in the letter does not mean charges will not follow; the district attorney makes that decision later, and the interview is where the evidence for it gets made.

Here is what the police are looking at. Under La. R.S. 14:100, hit-and-run driving is the intentional failure of the driver of a vehicle involved in or causing any accident to stop at the scene, to give his identity, and to render reasonable aid. "To give his identity" means giving name, address, and vehicle license number, or reporting the accident to the police. Where there is no death or serious bodily injury, it is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500, imprisonment of up to six months, or both.

Two points cut against the assumption you have been working from. The report your insurer made is not a report to the police — Geico opening a claim is not the statutory alternative, and cooperating fully with an insurer does not satisfy a criminal statute. And the duty to stop at the scene is a separate element that no later report cures.

That is not the end of it, though, and this is why counsel matters. The offense requires an intentional failure. Your son's account — that the street was too narrow and congested to stop safely, that he pulled a short distance away, and that he called you within minutes and turned back — goes directly to intent. That is a genuine defense. It is also exactly the kind of defense that gets damaged when a frightened young driver explains himself to a detective alone.

One more thing your lawyer should check before you respond: Louisiana has a separate provision in its traffic law covering a driver who strikes an unattended parked vehicle, and which provision the officer is actually investigating changes the analysis. Find that out before anyone speaks.

What you can do

1. Do not call the investigator, and do not let your son call. A lawyer can make that contact for you — often that call alone is what resolves these. 2. Retain a New Orleans criminal defense lawyer now, before any statement. The first statement is the one that sticks. 3. Preserve the file: the police letter and envelope, the Geico claim number and full claim notes, your phone records showing his call to you that day, and any texts. 4. Do not contact the other vehicle's owner, leave notes, or send an apology. Anything of that kind should go through your lawyer. 5. Keep cooperating with Geico on the property damage. Paying for the repair is a good fact — it is simply a separate question from the criminal one. 6. If your son is under 18, ask the lawyer about the juvenile court track and about any effect on his driver's license, which is often the consequence families care about most.

⏱ Time limits apply. A misdemeanor charge under La. R.S. 14:100 carries its own limitation period running from the date of the incident, and the practical clock — the officer's request for contact — is running right now. How both apply depends on your specific facts, which is another reason to get counsel involved before you respond.