Witnessing a car incident

themandan6611 · 15-05-2019 8:58pm #1

I witnessed a car incident during the week and wondering about the legality of what I witnessed.

Driver A drove their car all along the side of a parked empty car. The car was scrapped from back to front and the side mirror broken. The driver flew off and went on their merry way.

Yours truly got the registration number and later that evening went to the Gardai station to report it (in case the owner of the car that was damaged had reported too but would not have the registration number as they did not witness the incident).

I was told the detail I had (time, place, date, reg number etc) was no use and only the parked car owner can report it, no details asked and given a rather abrupt go on your way with yourself message.

I presume that this correct Gardai procedure and irrespective of witnessing damage the detail is useless ?

Will pop into the house of the car that was damaged to share the details with them.

Samuel T. Cogley · 15-05-2019 9:00pm

Gardaí simply avoiding work.

Fair play to you for going out of your way.

slavetothegrind · 15-05-2019 9:03pm

how do you know the owners address?

...Ghost... · 15-05-2019 9:03pm

Crime witnessed. Details offered. Gardaí not interested :rolleyes:

And they wonder why people don't report crime.

mordeith · 15-05-2019 9:04pm

slavetothegrind wrote: »

how do you know the owners address?

Presumably the car was parked outside the owners house?

listermint · 15-05-2019 9:05pm

That's leaving the scene of an accident and that guard wasn't doing his job. You could take it further to the sergeant.

I'd be livid if that was my car.

Samuel T. Cogley · 15-05-2019 9:06pm

slavetothegrind wrote: »

how do you know the owners address?

Usually a car will be parked outside the owners house, if not there's a good chance the home-owner will know who it belongs to. Hell I even know a few of the commuters cars in my area.

slavetothegrind · 15-05-2019 9:07pm

fair play to you op for persuing it, i know i would be extremely grateful if it was my car damaged.

themandan6611 · 15-05-2019 9:07pm

mordeith wrote: »

Presumably the car was parked outside the owners house?

It was indeed, early morning so unlikely to be someone parking and hopping on a bus.

What would the next step be as I am unhappy with the lack on interest and the curt nature of the Garda ?

slavetothegrind · 15-05-2019 9:08pm

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Usually a car will be parked outside the owners house, if not there's a good chance the home-owner will know who it belongs to. Hell I even know a few of the commuters cars in my area.

sorry i had car park in my head as i have seen so many incidents in them.

Was silly assumption.

listermint · 15-05-2019 9:09pm

Phone traffic watch on 1890205805

Contrary to believe this stuff is taken seriously. Obviously not by the lad you got on to

Samuel T. Cogley · 15-05-2019 9:10pm

slavetothegrind wrote: »

sorry i had car park in my head as i have seen so many incidents in them.

Was silly assumption.

It was a fair point, tbh.

slavetothegrind · 15-05-2019 9:14pm

Complaints about Garda behavior are investigated you know. I witnessed an arguement between someone i know and a Garda over a parking issue and he subsequently complained ( in the wrong as it happens) but was contacted afterwards and there was a process!

We Irish need to learn to complain more voiciferously ( me included)

themandan6611 · 15-05-2019 9:24pm

listermint wrote: »

Phone traffic watch on 1890205805

Contrary to believe this stuff is taken seriously. Obviously not by the lad you got on to

Did that initially, was advised as an actual incident / accident happened it would have to be reported to the Gardai directly - rang the station yesterday and was advised to call in and then tuffed out so to speak.

I think I will ping a complaint via the GSOC this evening

Maybe a very minor matter, however it negatively affects confidence in them and you know what manners cost nothing.

Deadlift kid · 15-05-2019 9:55pm

themandan6611 wrote:

Driver A drove their car all along the side of a parked empty car. The car was scrapped from back to front and the side mirror broken. The driver flew off and went on their merry way.

themandan6611 wrote:

Yours truly got the registration number and later that evening went to the Gardai station to report it (in case the owner of the car that was damaged had reported too but would not have the registration number as they did not witness the incident).

Fair play to ya I know what this is like from experience i had a car bmw m3 coupe destroyed on me a few yrs ago,

was heartbroken nobody saw nothing no cameras etc only had the car afew weeks after pondering for yrs whether to buy one, I was gutted a big tear up drivers side left with to fix it up myself at my own cost (didn't want to go through insurance at the time high premium)

But imo that gardas behaviour was disgraceful that's his job its hit and run it is still rta you been a witness and he just dismissed ya then they wonder why people have no confidence in them , a lot of them dont want to do anything an garda siochana needs a complete overhall id pursue it more but fair play to you...

tedpan · 15-05-2019 10:05pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPGb0IQdFlI

15-05-2019 10:09pm

listermint wrote: »

Phone traffic watch on 1890205805

Contrary to believe this stuff is taken seriously. Obviously not by the lad you got on to

Whole experience of OP wouldn’t give you much confidence though, would it?

Samuel T. Cogley · 15-05-2019 10:24pm

As soon as anything is logged, like through trafficwatch it's a different ball game.

ED E · 15-05-2019 10:31pm

Not sure why Traffic Watch deflected you, especially as those are civilians that shouldnt have Templemore Syndrome.

Live events (like a drunk ahead of you) should go straight to the local station, TW was perfectly suitable for a concluded event like you describe.

4ensic15 · 15-05-2019 10:47pm

Leave a note on the scaraped car saying you saw what happened and leave contact details. The car that cuased the damage may be owned by a garda.

RoYoBo · 16-05-2019 4:53am

ED E wrote: »

Live events (like a drunk ahead of you) should go straight to the local station,

A few months ago, my uncle was driving in a rural county behind a van with [Named Town Furniture] painted on the back and sides. Van was weaving all over the road and the driver seemed to be very drunk. He emerged from roundabouts without stopping, drove onto main roads without looking, crossed the white line continuously and generally caused mayhem for at least 20 minutes with many other drivers breaking and blowing horns etc.

The dangerous driver carried on with his journey through a fairly large town followed by a line of cars desperately trying to pass him. My uncle drove around trying to find a Garda (the station was closed) and finally spotted the squad car parked outside a cafe. On attempting to report the dangerous driver to the two uniformed Gardai eating inside, he was told to take himself off unless he was prepared to go to the station during opening hours, sign a statement and be ready to go to court himself! They refused to even take the details from him.

My uncle was really worried about the possibility of an imminent accident and when he tried to impress on the guards the seriousness of it all, he was insultingly told to calm down and go away or he'd be arrested himself. This was the first time my uncle had ever approached the Gardai for anything like this - he's a quiet elderly man and felt totally humiliated.

I tried to get him to report it elsewhere since but he has lost all faith in the Gardai and vows he'll never report anything again. If I didn't know him for the honest and upright man he is, I'd probably think it was a made-up tale.

Muahahaha · 16-05-2019 2:16pm

listermint wrote: »

Phone traffic watch on 1890205805

Contrary to believe this stuff is taken seriously. Obviously not by the lad you got on to

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

As soon as anything is logged, like through trafficwatch it's a different ball game.

Would agree with this, Traffic Watch is the way to go because then it is logged and official.

Was in a similar position to the OP a couple of years back, witnessed a RTA where a taxi knocked over a cyclist through dangerous driving. Went to report it in Pearse St station who were so busy they told me it would be several hours of waiting before anyone could take a statement. But the Garda there (a very helpful and genuine lad) said I could report it in any station, namely my local one. So I went home and typed up a 500 word witness statement of the accident, then down to the local station who told me that I couldnt report it there and had to go all the way back to Pearse St. Told them that the Pearse St garda said I could but they still wouldnt budge, they were shoving me form pillar to post.

So went back to Pearse St station a few days later had to spend a good while slowly reading out the statement to the Garda as he wrote it down on official Garda notepaper. Said he could not just accept the typed statement with my signature. Whole thing took a good hour. At the end of it all I just thought to myself how bloody hard it is to do the right thing. If it happened again I would just ring Trafficwatch, doing that would have saved me a whole lot of hassle. I'd imagine other people who are put through that kind of crap just give up and the crime ends up going unreported as a result.

98q76e12hrflnk · 16-05-2019 2:28pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

Would agree with this, Traffic Watch is the way to go because then it is logged and official.

Was in a similar position to the OP a couple of years back, witnessed a RTA where a taxi knocked over a cyclist through dangerous driving. Went to report it in Pearse St station who were so busy they told me it would be several hours of waiting before anyone could take a statement. But the Garda there (a very helpful and genuine lad) said I could report it in any station, namely my local one. So I went home and typed up a 500 word witness statement of the accident, then down to the local station who told me that I couldnt report it there and had to go all the way back to Pearse St. Told them that the Pearse St garda said I could but they still wouldnt budge, they were shoving me form pillar to post.

So went back to Pearse St station a few days later had to spend a good while slowly reading out the statement to the Garda as he wrote it down on official Garda notepaper. Said he could not just accept the typed statement with my signature. Whole thing took a good hour. At the end of it all I just thought to myself how bloody hard it is to do the right thing. If it happened again I would just ring Trafficwatch, doing that would have saved me a whole lot of hassle. I'd imagine other people who are put through that kind of crap just give up and the crime ends up going unreported as a result.

Jaysus, they guards should be made pass an medical test every month to see if they have a healthy and working brain.

Mod
Take it easy there. I have had many dealings with AGS, Incidents quoted are not typical inho.

AnnaStezia · 17-05-2019 12:58pm

What is the actual legal position about Gardai taking information from the public about an alleged offence ? Are they obliged to receive such information ?

I am amazed that Gardaí told OP that a report of the incident must come from the injured party.

If OP had witnessed an armed robber jumping in to the escape vehicle and proffered detailed information on that would it be refused because someone else has not yet reported it

BrianBoru00 · 17-05-2019 10:39pm

AnnaStezia wrote: »

What is the actual legal position about Gardai taking information from the public about an alleged offence ? Are they obliged to receive such information ?

I am amazed that Gardaí told OP that a report of the incident must come from the injured party.

If OP had witnessed an armed robber jumping in to the escape vehicle and proffered detailed information on that would it be refused because someone else has not yet reported it

Yes.

Muahahaha · 17-05-2019 10:48pm

BrianBoru00 wrote: »

Yes.

Can you clarify that or point to the legislation. Like receiving information is one thing, but acting on it another. There seems to be a pattern where some Gardai can give you the run around when you're trying to submit an allegation of a crime. I'm also aware of them making legal judgments i.e 'sorry thats a civil matter, we cant help you' in an instance where violence had been threatened and could be proved by text message, they still didnt want to act.

Discodog · 18-05-2019 9:14am

The evidence, breath tests etc, show that it's hardly a minority. There is a clear unwritten policy of avoiding,what is deemed to be unnecessary, work. The OP should make a formal written complaint as should anyone who is fobbed off.

4ensic15 · 18-05-2019 9:35am

Muahahaha wrote: »

Can you clarify that or point to the legislation. Like receiving information is one thing, but acting on it another. There seems to be a pattern where some Gardai can give you the run around when you're trying to submit an allegation of a crime. I'm also aware of them making legal judgments i.e 'sorry thats a civil matter, we cant help you' in an instance where violence had been threatened and could be proved by text message, they still didnt want to act.

Write a letter to the Superintendent. A garda tol;d a friend of mine that the only reason he was investigating her complaint (which led to a successful prosecution) was to stop her writing to his Superintendent.

Galadriel · 18-05-2019 10:14am

This happened to me a year ago in Rathmines, I witnessed a woman hit someones car repeatedly while she tried to parallel park, I took a picture of her reg and called the local Garda station, they said only the person that owns the car can make a complaint.

I don't understand though, if you actually see someone committing a crime and then driving off it doesn't matter as long as it wasn't your property that was damaged?

GM228 · 18-05-2019 12:01pm

BrianBoru00 wrote: »

AnnaStezia wrote: »

What is the actual legal position about Gardai taking information from the public about an alleged offence ? Are they obliged to receive such information ?

I am amazed that Gardaí told OP that a report of the incident must come from the injured party.

If OP had witnessed an armed robber jumping in to the escape vehicle and proffered detailed information on that would it be refused because someone else has not yet reported it

Yes.

Gardaí are not obliged to perform any of their prosecutorial or investigatory functions, they have complete discretion in that regard.

UrbanFox · 18-05-2019 1:32pm

GM228 wrote: »

Gardaí are not obliged to perform any of their prosecutorial or investigatory functions, they have complete discretion in that regard.

Are there any statutory or even non-statutory parameters that would govern the exercise of such discretion ?

Witnessing a car incident

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