The Criminal Mind In Action

"I've just crashed my car and don't want to get into trouble. Yes! I'll report it stolen!" 

As I mentioned in the last entry, calls blur together but some stand out for different reasons. Cases that piques my interest and get me excited to dig further make the job even more interesting and fun for me. The other thing I've come to realize is the criminal mind is bleakly dull, albeit humorous.

Recently, there was a crash called in to dispatch. The reporting person said two cars were racing and one of them hit his car. It was late, like bars winding down towards closing time late. The RP (reporting person) said there weren't any injuries he was aware of, however the crashed out vehicle driver was leaving the scene in the other car he was racing against. 

Now, that in itself was interesting enough to make me attach myself to the call and head to the scene. However, at roughly the same time of the crash another call came in to 911 with the RP stating his vehicle was stolen from a bar we'll call "Swashbucklers." One of the many things criminals, and normal citizens for that matter, don't realize is the communication center receiving and dispatching calls is fairly technologically advanced. The place looks like NASA command control. One of the interesting capabilities is that when a call comes in there's what's called "phase 2." Phase 2 shows where the number calling in is located with incredible pinpoint accuracy. Guess where the stolen vehicle caller was standing when he called in to report his vehicle stolen. Yep, he was at the crash scene. The RP of the auto theft only gave brief information and hung up before giving his name. All I had was the phone number, where the vehicle was "taken" from and the make of the vehicle. But that's plenty.

We can only logically guess at the reasons he called in to report his vehicle stolen after crashing it. Probably impaired, possibly had warrants, likely not very bright, and most definitely the type of person who never takes responsibility for his actions. Regardless, now the crash report and traffic ticket has turned into a real crime with potential felony charges. Joyfully, I jump in to help the primary officer on the call because this is now a much larger task than a simple crash report and I'm selfishly very interested in getting to the bottom of what happened and seeing responsible parties held accountable. Frankly, I'm a little jealous it's not my case entirely.

The vehicle was trashed. By the looks of it the driver basically did a high speed PIT maneuver to himself, spinning the SUV around, slamming over a curb. He then left the keys in the ignition with the SUV running and fled the scene but not before calling 911 to report that SUV stolen. 

We have access to some pretty awesome data bases of information. It took me all of about 3 minutes to figure out who was likely driving or at least involved. I just had to tie the phone number reporting the auto theft to the person driving the SUV at the crash and we were going to have some pretty good charges on this guy. So, I called the number. No answer so I left a voicemail using the name of the person I knew was associated to the SUV. Then I texted the individual using his name and telling him I would be happy to help him complete a report if he was in fact reporting his SUV stolen. And guess what I got on my phone the next morning? A text from, let's call him "Tommy." Yes, Tommy responded in writing saying his SUV was stolen from Swashbucklers. 

At this point I should probably back up a little. Had the driver remained on scene he would've gotten a summons (ticket) for careless (maybe reckless) driving and crossing the yellow line. That's it, unless he was under the influence but that's just a misdemeanor. It would've been a stretch to charge him for engaging in a speed contest based on just the witness from the other crashed vehicle but there was plenty of probable cause for the other two charges. It would've been a court date for the driver, where he could probably explain what was going on with some story and possibly get a reduced penalty.

Leaving the scene of a crash and reporting the vehicle stolen adds the following charges: Leaving the scene of an accident (duh), False reporting (class 3 misdemeanor), and Attempting to influence a public servant (that there is a class 4 felony folks) for telling me directly his car was stolen and is described in the statute as, 

"Any person who attempts to influence any public servant by means of deceit or by threat of violence or economic reprisal against any person or property, with the intent thereby to alter or affect the public servant's decision, vote, opinion, or action concerning any matter which is to be considered or performed by him or the agency or body of which he is a member, commits a class 4 felony."

Moving on. I continued to communicate with Tommy via texts in which he further implicates himself and agrees to meet me to complete an auto theft report. We already have enough to charge him. We went to the bar, Swashbucklers, where they provided some great video of the driver arriving at the bar in the SUV, sitting in the bar with the guy from the other car he was racing, and of him getting into the SUV and leaving the bar just minutes before the crash occurred. 

On my next shift I arrange to meet Tommy at his house and go there with the primary officer from the case. I asked Tommy if he wanted to continue with his auto theft report, which he did. Tommy says his SUV was gone from the bar when he exited and he got a ride home from a friend. After gathering the full auto theft report the other officer begins unraveling the evidence we have, showing Tommy images and video of him at the bar and leaving the bar getting into his SUV. Tommy caves and admits he lied, saying he left the bar and was involved in the crash and left the scene after calling in the fictitious auto theft. I advise Tommy the lying to officers to get out of the crash responsibility is a felony. Tommy's eyes well up with tears and I feel slight sympathy for him. The other officer and I have the discretion to either take Tommy to jail or write a felony summons with a court date and leave it at that, which is what we do.

Final charges: Attempting to influence a public servant (F4), false reporting (M2), reckless driving (12 points), failing to maintain lane (TA - traffic infraction).

Getting away with something like this is temporary at best. It's rare a hit and run suspect eludes consequences. I have two similar cases currently in which we know who the "run" suspect is and where they live. A crash is a crash. Just deal with it or it's going to come back to haunt you.