Hit and Run Lawyer in Scottsdale, AZ

Scottsdale's online report form takes only a handful of property crimes, such as lower-value theft, shoplifting and identity theft, and sends every other crime to the police line at 480-312-5000. A collision with a missing driver is not on that list, so a Scottsdale hit and run typically begins with an officer. The department gives initial criminal and traffic collision investigations to its district officers, and the first account is often a patrol officer's summary of what the other driver remembered, a partial plate, or a bystander's video.

Whether anyone was hurt decides who prosecutes. Driving off after a crash that only damaged an occupied or attended car, or after hitting a parked one without stopping and leaving your details, is a class 1 misdemeanor. Those cases go to the City Attorney's Prosecution Division, whose page names "DUI and other traffic violations" in its misdemeanor caseload, and they are heard at Scottsdale City Court, 3700 N. 75th St. If the crash injured or killed someone, leaving becomes a felony, and most state felonies from Scottsdale go to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office; the Arizona Attorney General's Office brings certain others. A hospital chart that surfaces later can move a case from 75th Street to Superior Court downtown.

Inside the County Attorney's Office, the Vehicular Crimes Bureau lists leaving the scene of injury collisions among its work, and its lawyers are available around the clock to assist police at fatal crashes.

An arrest changes the first hearing. Scottsdale appears on the Sheriff's Office list of cities that handle initial appearances on their own city charges, so a misdemeanor arrest can be heard at jail court inside the Downtown Scottsdale Police Station, home of the City of Scottsdale Jail. A felony booking goes to the county's Initial Appearance Court, held at 2670 S. 28th Dr., and Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 4.1 caps the wait for that hearing at 24 hours from arrest. The Sheriff's Office cautions that the allegations read there are ones the County Attorney has not yet screened.

Many cases involve no booking. Officers run the plate, knock on the owner's door and send a report to a prosecutor. The County Attorney says a reviewing prosecutor may return a felony report for more work, decline it, send it to a different jurisdiction, or bring charges by direct complaint or indictment. Those weeks are often the best window for a lawyer to supply what the report left out, such as a later call to police or proof that someone else had the car.

Money moves on a separate track. The other driver or the car's owner can pursue an insurance claim or a lawsuit, and a criminal court can order restitution for the loss. Pleading no contest still produces a conviction, the same as pleading guilty, so sort out with counsel how either plea might play in a civil dispute before you enter one.

Avoiding jail is not the same as avoiding a conviction. Under § 28-661, MVD must take the license away for three years after an injury crash, five after a serious physical injury and ten after a death. A conviction under § 28-662 for leaving an attended car that was only damaged allows the judge to order a one-year suspension. A felony conviction makes a person a prohibited possessor of firearms until that right is restored. Employers, insurers and licensing boards can all see the record, and anyone who is not a U.S. citizen should get immigration advice before entering a plea.