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CCTV footage of accident at my wash

We found that someone had clipped a wall at our self serve yesterday. It will need repair that will cost more than I want to just chalk up to the cost of doing business. So the question is, I have clear footage of the whole thing, he hit it with a trailer he was towing so didn't cause any damage to that which he seemed to care about and it was clearly just a mistake. Do you go to the police with this sort of thing or what? In California if that makes a difference
 
File a police report ASAP. It's Felony hit and run in Washington state. If they offer to pay the damages still press charges agansit them. I had the same thing happen not to long ago.
 
Since he damaged your property and left, it's most likely felony hit-and-run assuming he didn't contact you and give you his insurance info. I'm sure you'll have to file a police report, they'll get his info to you, then you can either contact his insurance (if he has any) or take him to court over the repairs. You could have a problem if he loaned his truck to someone or claims he wasn't driving, so if you have good enough video to prove he was make sure you save that.
 
We had a similar incident. Our local PD helped us get the vehicle registration info (in our case a company). When contacted and shown the images they were quick to settle the damage cost and offer an apology for their employee. Guy claimed he did not know but video showed him staring at the damage. Regardless PD usually do not want to get involved (initially) so you might consider seeing if you can track them down and contacting them. Most (not all) people and companies want to do the right thing by you especially if you have video and pictures.

Good luck!
 
File police report asap the will get a detective assigned to your case and want the video footage and they will be charged for hit and run. Had this happen many times and they always ended up paying. The officer can actually get you their insurance info if they have insurance and you can file directly on their insurance.
 
I like Roz's approach. Yes, file a report, but keep in mind what the police are facing today.
 
We got two numberplate cameras and the footage is easily given to the Police but since the Police often come to my place for getting video footage on other incidents I just call them and ask politely if they could call the offender to get in contact with me. Usually that works and is less trouble for the Police to write reports.
 
We got two numberplate cameras and the footage is easily given to the Police but since the Police often come to my place for getting video footage on other incidents I just call them and ask politely if they could call the offender to get in contact with me. Usually that works and is less trouble for the Police to write reports.

JustClean & others,

That is the ideal. Caveat ... an operator can have incidents where the vehicle owner could decide to be unreasonable & belligerent though. Not a pleasant or a fun experience!
 
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