Recently,
there have been several stories about individuals assaulting folks with
their vehicle. By assaulting others, I mean trying to run people over
with their car, or trying to hit others with a vehicle. Whether you use
a bat, a fist, or a car, its still called assault when you hit someone
else.
Vehicular
assaults are common in domestic fights, where partners end up at odds
with each other. But we also see it in the same context that we see bar
fights - folks who are angry, getting into a fight. Unfortunately, the
physics involved with a 3-5000 pound vehicle are much greater than with
just a fist. As my high school physics teacher told me, force is equal
to weight times speed (mass times acceleration is how he put it). What
it really means though, is that the larger the weight of the vehicle,
the more someone is hurt. For example, I have seen folks badly injured
after being hit by a semi, going only 5 mph. A vehicular assault almost
always results in injury.
Just this week, a St. Peter
Minnesota man was accused of attempting to use his vehicle as a
dangerous weapon. If true, he could be charged by the police with
assault, even felony assault. In fact, the police involved have
requested charges against the driver, Curtis Sykes. The incident that
took place on January 17th, 2015 on North Broad Street in Mankato Minnesota, where the police allege Mr. Sykes assaulted another person with his vehicle.
Unfortunately,
the victim in this situation, and all victims, often face a
double–whammy. First, they are injured by the person who assaulted them
with of the vehicle, and may have to live with those injuries.
Secondly, they are likely to be denied insurance coverage by the vehicle
that assaulted them.
The car insurance can deny coverage because the driver committed an
intentional act, in purposely trying to injure someone. Most auto
policies do not cover intentional acts, and specifically exclude them
from the policy. This means that someone who is accidentally hit by
vehicle is covered by insurance, but someone who is hit on purpose may
not get coverage.
In Minnesota, this is one of the
finer points of law. It turns out that if the driver hits someone on
purpose, there is no coverage if they actually intend to cause the
specific injury that is caused. But there is insurance
coverage if the driver intends to hit the other person, but doesn't
intend the specific injury the person actually suffers. Confused?
Let me try to explain it a little better. In this particular case, if the driver had intended to hit the other person, but intended only to cause them some bruising, and instead broke their leg, there would be
insurance coverage. This is because the driver did not intend to break
the other person's leg- the driver intended only to bruise them.
But
on the other hand, if the driver had intended to actually break the
person's leg, and the actually broke the leg, there woud be no insurance
coverage, because they intended the actual injury that happened.
There
is a famous Minnesota case where a kid is stuck in a basketball hoop
net after dunking a basketball. He is hanging from the net by his
finger, which is entangled in the net. His friends decide to pull him
down in a forceful manner, and as a result, his finger comes right off.
Its a bad picture for sure. But the legal case focused on insurance
coverage. In that case, there was insurance coverage because the
friends injured him, but did not intend to pull his finger off. If
they had intended to pull his finger off, there would be no insurance
coverage. You have to intend to do the actual injury that happens for
the insurance to be denied.
I guess the overall lesson
here is to avoid running folks over with your car; and don't get run
over either. If you use your car as a weapon, you will most likely be
charged with felony assault or worse. In addition, you may be sued, and
your insurance will not cover you. You will have to pay the damages
from the civil suit out of your own pocket. And if you are the one hit
by a vehicle, unfortunately you may end up in a battle with the
insurance companies, trying to figure out if your injuries were
intentional.
Randy Knutson
copyright 2015
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