Vehicle Code § 20001 CVC – Felony Hit & Run With Injury

California Vehicle Code 20001 CVC defines the crime of felony hit and run with injury. This section makes it a crime to flee the scene of a car accident in which another person has been injured or killed.

If the accident only causes property damage but no injuries, then prosecutors can only file misdemeanor hit and run charges per Vehicle Code 20002 CVC. But if the accident injures or kills another person, the state can charge the more serious crime of felony hit and run.

20001 VC states that “the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in injury to a person, other than himself or herself, or in the death of a person shall immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of the accident…”

Examples of illegal acts under this code section include:

• Lisa injures a pedestrian after hitting him with the front of her car and then speeds off down the road.
• Hanna, driving while intoxicated, hits a person in a parking lot (with her car), breaks the person’s leg, and then drives out of the lot.
• Trevon kills another driver in an automobile accident and then drives away without stopping.

Defenses

Luckily, there are several legal defenses you can raise if accused of a hit-and-run accident under Vehicle Code 20001. These include showing that:

• there was no injury or death,
• it was unsafe to stop, and/or
• you were not the driver

Penalties

Hit and run causing injury or death in California	As a misdemeanor: Up to 1 year in jail (with a 90-day minimum if the accident resulted in death or a permanent, serious injury) and/or $1,000 to $10,000 in fines As a felony: 2, 3, or 4 years in state prison and/or $1,000 to $10,000 in fines
Hit and run causing only property damage in California	Always a misdemeanor: up to 6 months in jail (or misdemeanor probation); up to $1,000 in fines, restitution for property damage, and 2 driving record points

Our California criminal defense attorneys will explain the following in this article:

• 1. When is hit and run a felony?
• 2. How do I fight the charges?
• 3. What are the penalties?
• 4. Related Offenses
• Additional Reading

1. When is hit and run a felony?

Vehicle Code 20001 VC is the California statute that makes it a felony to flee the scene of an accident in which another person has been injured or killed.¹ It is the injury that makes the crime of hit and run chargeable as a felony. If the accident only causes property damage but no injury, then it can only be filed as a misdemeanor.

A prosecutor must prove four things in order to convict you of hit and run felony.²

These are:

1. while driving, you were involved in a vehicle accident,
2. the accident caused injury or death to someone other than you,
3. you knew, or reasonably should have known, that you have been involved in an accident that injured or killed another person³, and
4. you willfully failed to perform one or more of the following duties:

• (a) to immediately stop at the scene of the accident,
• (b) to provide reasonable assistance to any person injured in the accident⁴, and/or
• (c) to give to the person injured, or any police officer at the scene of the accident, your personal information (for example, name and current address).⁵

You commit an act “willfully” when you do it willingly or on purpose. It is not required that you intend to:

• break the law,
• hurt someone else, or
• gain any advantage.⁶

In giving personal information, you must have provided enough information so that an injured person or a law enforcement officer understood you were driving the vehicle.⁷

Note that your duty to stop applies no matter who caused the accident and injury.⁸

Also note that this duty applies even if an accident occurred on private property.⁹

If you are convicted of felony hit and run, then a judge:

• may award restitution for those injuries caused by your criminal flight, but
• may not award restitution for injuries resulting from the accident itself.¹⁰

2. How do I fight the charges?

Three common defenses to VC 20001 accusations are:

1. there was no injury or death,
2. it was unsafe to stop, and/or
3. you were not the driver.

There was no injury or death

You are guilty under VC 20001 only if you failed to stop after an auto accident caused some type of injury or death to another person. This means it is a defense to show that, while you may have sped off after an accident, no injury or death was involved. But, you could still be guilty of a crime (misdemeanor hit and run, per VC 20002), if you fled and there was property damage involved in the accident.

Example: Jim is driving when he hits a bicyclist and flees the scene. The bike is bent but the cyclist is fine. But the cyclist decides to fake various injuries to get Jim in big trouble. Jim gets arrested for felony hit and run. But Jim’s attorney obtains medical records that show the cyclist sustained no bodily injury. Since the only damage was to the bike, the charge gets lessened to misdemeanor hit and run.

Defense attorneys may rely on medical experts to testify that a “victim’s” injuries are false or self-induced.

It was unsafe to stop

Sometimes the safest thing to do after a collision is to keep driving. This may be true if:

• There is no place to pull over safely;
• The other driver – or other people on the scene – appear angry and ready to fight you; or
• You are transporting someone to the ER, and there is no time to stop

These excuses may be sufficient to persuade the D.A. to reduce or lessen the hit and run charges.

Example: Benny is driving through a rough neighborhood when he T-bones a sedan, causing the passenger in the sedan severe whiplash. Benny initially stops. But then the sedan driver storms over to Benny while holding a pistol. Frightened for his life, Benny floors the gas pedal and speeds away. Here, Benny seems justified in leaving the scene. He feared for his safety. If he gets charged with hit and run, the defense attorney can try to explain to prosecutors that he fled out of necessity.

Benny, in the above example, would do well to consult with an attorney as soon as possible. The attorney could then help him report the incident to the police in a way that shows Benny was blameless for fleeing the scene.

You were not the driver

Collisions often happen in a flash, especially on high-traffic streets. And if the at-fault driver flees right away, the victim may have no idea what the driver looks like.

Example: Owen parks his Porsche at a valet. The valet driver Ted takes it for a joyride. But then Ted sideswipes another car, causing the other driver a fractured collarbone. Ted flees the scene and returns the Porsche to valet. But the injured driver manages to get down the car’s license plate number. Soon police identify the car owner as Owen and arrest him for felony hit and run. But Owen has proof he was at work at the time of the collision. So prosecutors dismiss the case against Owen.

Often, there is a lack of evidence tying the car owner to the culprit in a hit-and-run. If car owners have alibis placing them away from the collision, the hit-and-run charges should be dropped.

3. What are the penalties?

A violation of VC 20001 is a wobbler offense, meaning that it can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony.¹¹

If charged as a misdemeanor, a hit and run conviction is punishable by:

• imprisonment in county jail for up to one year, and/or
• a maximum fine between $1,000 and $10,000.¹²

Please note that a judge may grant you misdemeanor (or summary) probation in lieu of jail time.

If charged as a felony, the offense is punishable by:

• imprisonment in the state jail for up to four years, and/or
• a maximum fine between $1,000 and $10,000.¹³

In lieu of prison time, a judge may grant you felony (or formal) probation.

4. Related Offenses

There are three crimes related to felony hit and run. These are:

1. misdemeanor hit and run – VC 20002,
2. driving under the influence – VC 23152a, and
3. vehicular manslaughter – PC 192c.

Misdemeanor hit and run – VC 20002

Vehicle Code 20002 VC sets forth the California law on misdemeanor hit and run.

According to VC 20002, it is a crime to fail to stop your vehicle, after being involved in an accident, when the accident resulted in some type of property damage.¹⁴

Note that your duty to stop applies no matter who caused the accident.¹⁵

A violation of this statute is charged as a misdemeanor in California.¹⁶

The crime is punishable by:

• imprisonment in county jail for up to six months, and/or
• a maximum fine of $1,000.¹⁷

Driving under the influence – VC 23152a

Vehicle Code 23152(a) VC is the California DUI law that makes it a crime to operate a motor vehicle while “under the influence” of alcohol.¹⁸

“Under the influence” means that your physical or mental abilities are impaired to the extent that you can no longer drive as well as a cautious sober person.¹⁹

In California, you can be prosecuted under this statute even if your blood alcohol concentration was below 0.08%.

A first, second and third offense under VC 23152a are charged as misdemeanors in California. Penalties for a DUI conviction may include:

• misdemeanor probation,
• fines,
• DUI school, and
• a driver’s license suspension (though it may be possible to continue driving if you install an ignition interlock device (IID) in your car).

Vehicular manslaughter – PC 192c

Penal Code 192c is the California statute on vehicular manslaughter.

According to PC 192c, you commit this crime when you:

1. cause the death of another person while driving a vehicle, and
2. do so by negligently committing either an unlawful act that is not a California felony, or a lawful act that may cause death.²⁰

The penalties for this offense depend on whether you acted with

• gross negligence, or
• ordinary negligence.

If you acted with gross negligence, then vehicular manslaughter is a wobbler offense, meaning that it can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony.²¹

The maximum misdemeanor sentence is one year in county jail. The maximum felony sentence is six years in state prison.²²

If you acted with only ordinary negligence, then Penal Code 192c is a California misdemeanor. The maximum sentence is one year in county jail.²³

Additional Reading

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• Theorizing hit-and-run: A study of driver decision-making processes after a road traffic collision – Criminology & Criminal Justice.
• Is a Hit-and-Wait Really Any Better than a Hit-and-Run? – Hofstra Law Review.
• The Impact of Moral Panic on the Criminal Justice System: Hit-and-run Traffic Offenses as a Case Study – New Criminal Law Review.
• California v. Byers: Hit-and-Run Statutes and the Privilege against Self-Incrimination – Brooklyn Law Review.
• Hit the bottle and run: The role of alcohol in hit-and-run pedestrian fatalities – Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

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