# What is the Law concerning Hit & Run



## BobSD (Feb 1, 2008)

I witnessed a terrible event yesterday so did alot of other people. A lady was coming out of the groomers and her little dog slip its collar, and dashed out into traffic,( will not go into the details), but the car did not attempt to slow down or stop, as if it hit a squirrel. All the other traffic in both directions stopped to allow retrieval of the dog. Some of the people got the licence plate number. I am not sure what the out come will be , just wondering if there are any penaltys for behaving like this half-wit? What makes this so bad the driver had the opportunity to hit the brakes and stop. The dog was making circles in the road and other cars slowed down.


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## Mudra (Nov 1, 2007)

That is terrible... But I really have no idea about the law regarding hit and run of animals. I sure hope he gets a fine or jailtime for that. I feel sorry for the poor owner of the dog.


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## Dakota Spirit (Jul 31, 2007)

Well...I would guess the penalty won't be much, if anything. Hit and run really doesn't work the same for animals as it does for people. Without researching it - if the owners were to press charges I'd guess they would eligible for the cost of the dog and that's about it. I don't think there would be any more fines and certainly not jail time.

Bearing in mind though, you would have to have witnesses and such in order to prove he WAS the one that hit your dog.


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## blunder (Sep 2, 2008)

Shame that he didn't stop, there are a lot of people that don't.
It is not against the law to hit a dog with a car, therefore there is no such thing as "hit & run" with a dog.

I hate being the "bad guy", but what makes more sense? Hitting a dog, or swerving and risk hitting a person instead of the dog.


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## lovemygreys (Jan 20, 2007)

Probably nothing - as it should be. The car hit a dog, not a person.


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## Criosphynx (May 15, 2008)

did you ever stop and think that the guy maybe didnt' see or feel that he hit the dog? Not that hes' just a jerk.

I know *I* wouldn't know if i hit a small dog if i was in a big enough vehicle.

I've seen a case like this on court tv.... *the dogs owner was responsible.*

If you hit a dog and "know" you hit the dog, your supposed to go look for the owner, for courtesy, thats it . But aside from that he doesn't have to pay anything. Either way the driver is not liable . Dog was in the road.


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## pamperedpups (Dec 7, 2006)

I agree with the other posters. The dog's owner should have had control of their dog and she is lucky no one got in an accident as a result of her negligence. This situation could have been prevented with either a well-fitted collar or a reliable recall.


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## 8 (Apr 4, 2006)

BobSD said:


> I witnessed a terrible event yesterday so did alot of other people. A lady was coming out of the groomers and her little dog slip its collar, and dashed out into traffic,( will not go into the details), but the car did not attempt to slow down or stop, as if it hit a squirrel. All the other traffic in both directions stopped to allow retrieval of the dog. Some of the people got the licence plate number. I am not sure what the out come will be , just wondering if there are any penaltys for behaving like this half-wit? What makes this so bad the driver had the opportunity to hit the brakes and stop. The dog was making circles in the road and other cars slowed down.


It depends on where you live


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## Dieselsmama (Apr 1, 2007)

BobSD said:


> I witnessed a terrible event yesterday so did alot of other people. A lady was coming out of the groomers and her little dog slip its collar, and dashed out into traffic,( will not go into the details), but the car did not attempt to slow down or stop, as if it hit a squirrel. All the other traffic in both directions stopped to allow retrieval of the dog. Some of the people got the licence plate number. I am not sure what the out come will be , just wondering if there are any penaltys for behaving like this half-wit? What makes this so bad the driver had the opportunity to hit the brakes and stop. The dog was making circles in the road and other cars slowed down.


I can't believe this dog left the grooming shop with a collar loose enough to slip  The last thing I do is put the dogs collar back on (if it's clean enough) and I ALWAYS check to make sure it's sized properly, often times dogs with the adjustable collars need them adjusted down after a trim. Sometimes owners will buy a new collar for their clean dog, especially if it's an older smelly collar, in which case I adjust that to fit as well.


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## JackiesZoo (Jan 25, 2008)

I know that here in NY, it is against the law to drive off after hitting a domestic animal. That is dog, cat, cow and so on. I am not sure what the penalty is though. 

That is just awful. I sure there was enough commotion going on that the driver should have known something was wrong and stopped.


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## UrbanBeagles (Aug 13, 2007)

JackiesZoo said:


> I know that here in NY, it is against the law to drive off after hitting a domestic animal. That is dog, cat, cow and so on. I am not sure what the penalty is though.



Hmmm, the law in NY is that the dog must be leashed 100% of the time while in a publica area. Of course, it wasn't intentional - not as if the owner was allowing the dog to roam off leash! But still, if the dog was not on lead and in control of the owner it's not a crime, and really should not be. It was an accident. I agree with the other posters who mentioned that the driver might have had to hit the dog to potentially avoid swerving into another car or even a person. That's just infinitely more important.


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## JessRU09 (Aug 25, 2008)

While it's a terrible situation, the owner has to be responsible enough for their animal. Keeping the dog under control in a high traffic area is just common sense. :[


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## BobSD (Feb 1, 2008)

Thats is a good point about the loose collar after grooming, I noticed my dog's collars loose after grooming. I also know how much my dogs want to dash out of the groomers, so I put the leash looped around my wrist, plus carry the dogs out to the car and put in cages.


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## GreatDaneMom (Sep 21, 2007)

Ugh, thats a huge pet peeve of mine is when people bring their dogs into us and their collars are WAY too loose. i either tighten them myself or suggest that they do (the owner). 

heres one even worse. theres a dog that comes in and the woman who owns him insists on having him offleash. hes NOT trained well to begin with. the only reason he stays by her is because she takes a treat with her. one of these days, hes going to get destracted....  i hate people who try to just show off. our facility is located VERY close to the road and its an extremely busy road. my heart races everytime i see him leave....


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## Patt (Feb 12, 2008)

So sad for the dog and guardian.

States/counties etc may have different laws on hit and run. I have no idea what state you are in to check on it. To find out about your laws I would call your local police department and ask them.


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## melgrj7 (Sep 21, 2007)

UrbanBeagles said:


> Hmmm, the law in NY is that the dog must be leashed 100% of the time while in a publica area. Of course, it wasn't intentional - not as if the owner was allowing the dog to roam off leash! But still, if the dog was not on lead and in control of the owner it's not a crime, and really should not be. It was an accident. I agree with the other posters who mentioned that the driver might have had to hit the dog to potentially avoid swerving into another car or even a person. That's just infinitely more important.


Yeah, but it still illegal to hit a domestic animal and drive off. You are supposed to notify the police if you hit a domestic animal (although I am pretty sure cats are exempt from this for some reason). So, if you hit a dog, cow, horse, pig . . . you are supposed to report it, as they are considered property and you have now killed someone's property. I don't think you are held liable for damages though, but you are supposed to report it.


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## olemanwinter (Feb 24, 2013)

I am a dog owner, always have been, and I love my dogs, but most of the comments in this thread are crazy.

Where I live, and I can't imagine it being different somewhere else, a dog owner has the LEGAL responsibility to keep the animal on his or her property or under restraint. The driver has NO OBLIGATION to avoid an animal on the road NOR to stop and track down the owner once it becomes road kill.

If I track you down after I hit your dog on the road, it's because I want YOUR INSURANCE information. The owner of that little dog should just be thankful he/she is not paying for damages to someone's car or God forbid hospital bills had it caused a bad accident. He or she WOULD have been liable.

I love dogs, but dogs are not people. You people need to keep control of your dogs. The story begins and ends there.


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## olemanwinter (Feb 24, 2013)

melgrj7 said:


> So, if you hit a dog, cow, horse, pig . . . you are supposed to report it, as they are considered property and you have now killed someone's property. I don't think you are held liable for damages though, but you are supposed to report it.


Liable for damages? That's insane. If a car hits a domestic animal in the road the owner of the domestic animal is liable for damages to the owner of the car.


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

This thread is more than four years old. Many of the people who posted in here aren't even around anymore.


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## olemanwinter (Feb 24, 2013)

Indeed. Yet it's still available and perhaps actively read. I found it by accident doing an unrelated google search.

If a thread is still online spreading nonsense, it deserves to have a counter-point or dissenting opinion on record for balance.


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

Not really...kinda deserves to be a dead thread. Do you think every thread here that has become inactive should then be locked, lest somebody stumble upon it while searching google? That seems a bit silly.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

olemanwinter said:


> Indeed. Yet it's still available and perhaps actively read. I found it by accident doing an unrelated google search.
> 
> If a thread is still online spreading nonsense, it deserves to have a counter-point or dissenting opinion on record for balance.


If it's still spreading nonsense, it's because someone has resurrected it.


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