Leaving a Crash Scene for Emergency Medical Treatment
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Reviewed & verified by A. Jason Velez, Esq.*
Founding Attorney, 1LAW · Last reviewed June 4, 2024
Legal Inquiry
Consumer Legal Issue
I ran off the road trying to avoid hitting an animal and was injured pretty bad. Someone took me to the hospital, but I'm told I did a hit and run because I hit the fire hydrant. But I called a tow truck to get the car.
Attorney Answer
Leaving in order to get emergency medical treatment is not what the hit-and-run statutes are aimed at, and the sections most people mean by "hit and run" are about collisions with people and with other vehicles — not with a fire hydrant. But whoever told you this may be reaching for a different rule, so do not shrug it off: take it to a Texas criminal-defense lawyer before you talk to anyone about it.
Look at what the two main sections actually cover. Tex. Transp. Code § 550.022(a) applies to the operator of a vehicle involved in a collision resulting only in damage to a vehicle that is driven or attended by a person. A fire hydrant is not a vehicle driven or attended by a person, so that subsection does not describe your crash. Tex. Transp. Code § 550.021(a) applies to a collision that results or is reasonably likely to result in injury to or death of a person, and requires the operator to stop at the scene of the collision or as close to the scene as possible, to return immediately if the vehicle was not stopped there, to determine whether a person is involved and needs aid, and to remain until the requirements of § 550.023 are met. Section 550.023 is the exchange-and-aid duty, and its third part is telling: it requires providing an injured person reasonable assistance, including transporting or making arrangements for transporting that person to a physician or hospital for medical treatment where it is apparently necessary. The statute contemplates that someone badly hurt gets taken for treatment. Being carried to a hospital is not flight.
The gap in this page is real and worth naming. Chapter 550 also has a section covering what a driver must do after striking property such as a fixture, and that section is not one this page is permitted to set out. It generally calls for taking reasonable steps to notify the owner of what was struck. Whether it applies to you, and whether calling a tow truck satisfied it, is exactly the question to put to a lawyer with the facts in front of them.
Two other things are probably coming. The city or utility that owns the hydrant will likely bill for repairing it, which is an ordinary property damage claim and not a criminal matter. And you were hurt badly, in a single-vehicle crash with no other driver to claim against. That is what personal injury protection is for: Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.152 requires PIP to be provided unless it is rejected in writing, and § 1952.155(a) makes those benefits payable without regard to the fault or nonfault of the named insured and without regard to any collateral source. It pays medical bills and some lost income even where no one else is at fault.
What you can do
1. Keep getting treatment and follow through on it. Your health comes first, and the records are also the timeline that shows why you left.
2. Request your own hospital, emergency room and ambulance records. They are yours, the request is routine, and they document that you were taken for treatment rather than leaving on your own.
3. Do not write out an account of the crash for the police, the city, the utility, or any insurer, and do not give a statement about it yet.
4. Keep what already exists — the tow company's paperwork and invoice, any photographs already on your phone, and any letter or citation you have received. Do not create anything new.
5. Take it to a Texas criminal-defense lawyer before any contact with police or the property owner, and ask specifically which chapter 550 section anyone says you violated.
6. Find your own auto policy and check the declarations page for personal injury protection.
*Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts — starting with exactly what was struck and who says a duty was missed — is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.*
⏱ Time limits apply. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) generally gives two years from the day the cause of action accrues for both personal injury and property damage, which covers a claim for the hydrant against you. Your own policy's notice deadlines are shorter, and any criminal timetable is separate and not set by this page. When each clock started depends on your facts — have a Texas attorney review the dates now.
*Attorney review is supported by AI-assisted drafting and legal research algorithms. Use of this Chat does not create an attorney-client relationship.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does leaving a Texas crash scene in an ambulance or someone's car count as a hit and run?
Going for emergency medical treatment is not what the stop-and-remain statutes target. Tex. Transp. Code § 550.021(a) requires the operator of a vehicle in a collision that results or is reasonably likely to result in injury or death to stop at or as close as possible to the scene, return immediately if not stopped there, determine whether anyone involved needs aid, and remain until the requirements of § 550.023 are met. Section 550.023 itself contemplates transporting an injured person for treatment where it is apparently necessary. Facts still matter — whether anyone else was involved, and what happened afterward — so someone accused of leaving should get the specific section identified by a lawyer.
Do Texas hit-and-run statutes apply when only property such as a hydrant or a pole is damaged?
Not the two sections people usually mean. Tex. Transp. Code § 550.022(a) applies where the only damage is to a vehicle that is driven or attended by a person, and § 550.021(a) applies where injury or death results or is reasonably likely. A fire hydrant, a utility pole or a fence is neither. Chapter 550 does have a separate section addressing a driver's duties after striking property of that kind, which generally involves taking reasonable steps to notify the owner. Which section is being invoked is the first thing to pin down, because the duties and the penalties are different.
Who pays the medical bills after a single-vehicle crash with no other driver at fault?
Personal injury protection is built for exactly that. Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.152 requires PIP to be provided on a Texas auto policy unless it is rejected in writing, and § 1952.155(a) makes those benefits payable without regard to the fault or nonfault of the named insured and without regard to any collateral source. It pays medical expenses and some lost income even where no one else can be blamed for the crash. Whether it is on a particular policy is answered by the declarations page, and health coverage may also apply.