Q: Can they press charges? What can we do?
so my boyfriend and I were involved in a hit-and-run about 2 weeks ago. Today my boyfriend was on the Highway and saw a the same car with side damage and was reckless driving no license plate my boyfriend called 911 and told them they had an office come and pull my boyfriend and the car over. The car had 2 female in it. They weren’t the people who had hit him but the officer put my boyfriend in handcuffs and had he was going ot jail for road rage because the girls had said my boyfriend had break check them when he didn’t. They might be pressing charges. Can they? And can we press charges for reckless driving?
A:
Criminal cases are between the state government and the defendant. The people in the other car are witnesses and so are the responding officers. If you were in the car at the time then you are also a witness. We say a witness is "pressing charges" when she agrees to cooperate with the prosecution and that she is "dropping charges" when she refuses to cooperate and/or helps the defense attorney.
The prosecutor is only required to "consider" the opinion of the alleged victim, and ultimately is responsible for making the ultimate decision about whether to dismiss the case or seek a conviction. A prosecutor will often, but not always, go along with the wishes of the alleged victim. One big exception to that rule is domestic violence cases, where they often prosecute against the wishes of the alleged victim.
The first thing you should do is to make sure your boyfriend has a criminal defense attorney.
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