Hit And Run. Nico Detectives Please Help.

[Pento240sx]

Hello Niconauts. Here is the story; About a couple of ours a car crashed into my sisters Astro Van and the driver drove away from the scene, I tried to catch up to him, but did not know which way he went. So as I was looking at the broke pieces I found a piece of the headlight of the runaway. So clues are it was a white Ford van and in the broken plastic pieces. I found the part number of the headlight which is [SAE-HR-00 ET] and was wondering if there is a possible way to find out, with that piece of evidence the Ford van licence plate number or vin by anyway. Thanks.

[AZhitman]

Nope.

You could try hitting up local bodyshops and ask if any Ford vans show up w/ body damage...

Did you file a police report?

[darens13]

It looks like the driver of the van...


hit and ran.

YEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!


good luck tracking down that dirtbag!

[Bubba1]

Nope.

You could try hitting up local bodyshops and ask if any Ford vans show up w/ body damage...

Did you file a police report?

This^. To answer your question, No. At best the part number of the headlamp might perhaps narrow down the year/model of the van but that's about it. So you're talking about narrowing the suspects down to a mere several thousand. White is probably the most common color for vans. Best you can do at this point is what the Hitman suggests: report the accident to the police, your insurance company (if the damage is significant). And perhaps check the local body shops.

Sorry.

[Encryptshun]

Yes, file a police report. What you have is a matter of what the cops could do and what they will do.

They could use what information they have on the make, model and color of the vehicle to find out if/when it ever goes in to collision shop for repair, and if it does, see if there is any of your sister's paint on the van, then get him for hit-and-run. (I actually had this happen to a neighbor of mine when I was in college). What they will do, however, is shrug their shoulders and say "sorry about that. Tough luck, buddy."

[maxhopper]

<---Works at Ford dealer.

That isn't the part number.

[Pento240sx]

Nope.

You could try hitting up local bodyshops and ask if any Ford vans show up w/ body damage...

Did you file a police report?

I did not think of that and yea we file a police report. But like Encryptshun said: Cops will just say sorry. But I'm determine to find him. This is the third time that this happens in my neighborhood and I'm scare that next time will be my car. So thanks for the tips, now is time for some hunting.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

, now is time for some hunting.

+1
Get a gun, and go look for him... if you get pulled over, and the cops ask what you're doing, just say "your job".

[C-Kwik]

As much as the situation sucks and you might want to get the person responsible, consider that the reason the police won't do much is because its damned hard to track a vehicle in an accident down without some way they can identify the vehicle or driver. The only type of cases I investigated that ever got tracked down from debris left at the scene was when a license plate fell off. I did have one case where my insured saw the vehicle that hit him about a week after the accident. Not sure how that panned out though since the file was sent to our subrogation department to handle and wait to see it the Police could confirm if that was actually the vehicle. Outside of checking your block where this occurred (if he was going through a residential area, he was probably there for a reason; though white vans are commonly service vehicles), the odds are simply against you if you live in an area that has a sizable population. Do understand that hit and run accidents are common enough that trying to find the identify of every hit and run driver without a plate# would be heavily resource intensive. They have a hard enough time finding them when they hit pedestrians (qualifying them for felony hit and run).

[Pento240sx]

Well guys, it seems that I probably found the van that hit my sister's van, the problem is that is all the way back in a driveway and I couldn't see the front end. Now when I got out of work I passed by the same house and the van was not there anymore also, my sister said that where the van was parked at, there lives a person that she knows, because one of the kids that goes with my little niece to school and that little kid was absent today. So it seems kind of suspicious. But I still need to investigate a little bit more. Tomorrow I shall continue with the search.