For many people who are seriously injured in an accident, it is common to be unsure of what led to the wreck itself or who may be held accountable. There can often be complicating factors that mean that more than one party is responsible, or that an accident reconstruction or further investigation is required in order to tell what occurred and to build a comprehensive theory of negligence.
Thankfully, when you're working directly with a qualified personal injury lawyer, it is much easier to tell what you need to pay attention to and to allow your attorney to gather this evidence on your behalf.
If the person who hit you in an accident, such as a bike accident, pedestrian accident, truck accident, motorcycle accident, or other vehicle accident, struck you and then left the scene, there may separately be a criminal as well as a civil case against this party.
The sooner you can communicate with the police and talk to your personal injury lawyer, the easier it may be to identify the person who hit you in the accident. It is possible that someone else near the scene of the accident saw what happened and grabbed important information about the person, such as their vehicle type or their license plate. The police will also be involved in investigating who may have caused the accident, and this can help you to identify a liable party in your civil lawsuit. A criminal case and a civil case over a hit-and-run accident, however, are handled separately in the court system.
If you cannot identify who caused the accident, you may need to turn to your own insurance coverage to help pay for your damages. It is often helpful to work with a qualified personal injury attorney who has carried out investigations and hit-and-run accidents before, since this individual may have some ideas of how to identify who hit you and how to hold them responsible in court. You may still need some of this information, such as any evidence pinning this person to the accident, to prove negligence in your civil claim.