A pedestrian shares hard-won advice after surviving a hit-and-run in Brooklyn, stressing the importance of documenting evidence immediately—such as photographing a license plate—to aid police investigations. The experience highlighted the challenges of securing justice without clear identification, as authorities proved unresponsive without key details, allowing the driver to escape accountability. The victim also outlines practical steps for others in similar situations, including leveraging nearby surveillance footage, consulting injury lawyers on a contingency basis, and filing insurance claims promptly to cover medical expenses. Mistakes made in the aftermath, such as using health insurance for accident-related care, revealed gaps in understanding how to navigate legal and financial recovery after such incidents.
A little over two years ago in July 2024, I was a victim of a hit-and-run accident in Brooklyn. Can see my previous post asking help on identifying the man or license plate of the car. TLDR: here are the lessons I learned from this traumatic experience as a pedestrian: don't think, just take a picture of the license plate or else the police cannot do anything for you look for injury lawyers right away - afaik they do not charge you unless you win the case (their cut is generally 1/3 of the insurance payout) if its a hit & run, even if you're a pedestrian victim, if yourself or your spouse/family has car insurance, you can still file a claim within 30 days of the accident to cover for medical bills & insurance payout (if you hire a lawyer) ask nearby stores for their CCTV for evidence take lots of pictures of your injuries for evidence - no matter how minuscule you think they are My first mistake was not taking a picture of the license plate right away. My phone was in my fanny pack and I was in a daze after the impact and getting yelled at by the driver that I was at fault. I was also just thinking of getting back asap to beat the imminent thunderstorm that was brewing. Not surprisingly living in the city with tons of accidents happening daily, the NYPD was no help at all due to the lack of license plates (I'm a nobody and I didn't die so why would they care?). Therefore that asshole was able to get away with his crime. But even though I didn't catch the license plate, I was able to obtain videos of the accident which I submitted as proof which became very handy during my deposition with the auto insurance lawyer. Right after the accident, I went to CityMD to get x-ray scans to make sure I didn't break any bones. While filling out the form, I mentioned it was a car accident so they didn't charge me with co-pay at the time but I did put my health insurance on the form. This was my second mistake. Since this was a motor accident, I didn't know I could go through my husband's auto insurance to pay for any medical fees. All auto insurance should have some coverage for pedestrian accidents and I should've filed a case with the auto-insurance and use them when visiting doctors. My third mistake was waiting about three weeks before contacting a lawyer. I should've contacted an injury lawyer right away because they could've connected to health specialists for my injuries and mental health. I was in a pretty dark place right after the accident and constantly thought of jumping into the Gowanus canal to end the pain and my deep hatred towards everything. I hated myself for not taking a picture of the license plate so the driver could've been caught. I hated my neighborhood because several people and drivers witnessed the whole accident but no one helped - typical not my pain, not my problem. I hated my husband for going to a concert that night and thus wasn't present when the accident happened. I also hated how he kept downplaying my pain when my friends visited (his justification was to portrait me as a strong woman). I hated the NYPD for not trying more. (If you were wondering, the CCTVs were all obtained by myself limping to each store and asking for their kindness to share footage with me.) I hated my sisters for not making the trip (from Queens!) to visit me right away when I told them what had happened. And I especially hated that soulless asshole driver who not only ran me over but then proceeded to yelled at me for crossing a red light (which was not, he turned right while I was crossing with the green light). Gosh, even typing this now brings back so much hatred and pain. But had I contacted a lawyer right away, they could've connected me to a therapist to talk through the pain and hatred. I ended up not doing anything dramatic but it still would've helped a lot to have some professional help. Also, since I didn't plan on hiring a lawyer, I didn't take a lot of pictures of my injuries. However, once I did hire a lawyer, he gave me contacts to a PT clinic to help with any remnants of swelling and told me to open a case with my husband's auto insurance which started the two years journey to get some justice. The asshole had the audacity to yell at me for crossing a \"red light\". When you hire an injury lawyer, their main goal is to get as much insurance payout as possible. To do that, they need an endless trail of evidence ranging from injury pictures, doctors visits, pain prescriptions, medical equipment purchases etc to show how much pain and suffering their client went through. So for 4 months until December of 2024, I made the 2 hours commute from work to PT to home twice or three times a week. It was brutal. My swelling pretty much was gone but my lawyer kept saying I need to continue my doctor's visit to fully recover. I was told to get mri on my leg and spine to verify any injuries to my soft tissues. It was not easy to find a medical clinic that took no-fault insurance and also had availability without waiting for months. I also opted for getting a steroid shot in my spine because my mri showed that I had a herniated disc. All this took a lot of effort and time that I had to take off from work to go to these appointments. I was very fortunate to have a manager who was very understanding and I had sick days to use. But all this was to build a case to show the auto insurance lawyer that I had suffered tremendously and thus should be compensated. I didn't hear back from my lawyer until August of 2025 when they reached out to inform me that the insurance lawyer had scheduled a deposition to review my case. I had to take two days off from work to prepare for the deposition and also to attend the deposition. I was told generally the insurance lawyer would ask many questions to verify that the victim was truly not at fault. However, because I had the CCTVs from nearby stores, when I attended the deposition, the lawyer skipped any accident questions and just focused on questioning my pain experiences. So my deposition ended in two hours. It was around Christmas of 2025 when I received an update from my lawyer that a follow-up deposition was needed and we scheduled for mid January 2026. However, about a week before the follow-up, my lawyer called and told me the insurance company was willing to settle for the full amount of 50K (max amount under the insurance plan). After paying all the healthcare costs and my lawyer getting 1/3 of the cut, I was given a check of ~30K. But I didn't get this check until April of 2026 because it took some time to pay back all the healthcare expenses that were paid using my personal health insurance in the beginning right after the accident. In summary, it took almost two years to get some justice from my car accident. If you're up for the legal battle, consistent doctor visits and have undeniable proofs, you will get compensated, albeit can take quite some time. I'm sharing my experiences and what I learned to help any unfortunate victims if they ever wound up in similar situations like myself. submitted by /u/Momotako [link] [comments]
