Q: My nephew was at Crystal Beach, Tx riding along the beach at night and hit a guy.
My nephew couldn’t get stopped quick enough to keep from hitting him. The guy told him that he was ok and that he could go. Several days later his wife contacted him and said that she had taken a picture of the license plate and they would not get the law involved if he would give them his insurance information. Does he have to cooperate with them?
A: It is a crime to cause an accident and then fail and stop to give information (e.g. insurance info). It is also a crime to cause an accident that injures someone and then fail and stop and render aid. From your description, it does not appear that your nephew violated the law at the time of the accident. However, if the man needs medical treatment that he may not have realized he needed at the time of the accident, then your nephew would have a duty to give him insurance information. This is what insurance is for. It would be far better to face the possibility of an insurance premium increase than it would to be charged and arrested for a crime.
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