Pedestrian struck in crosswalk in hit-and-run incident — $300,000 settlement

Type of action: Personal injury, auto accident

Injuries alleged: Pelvic fracture, fracture ribs, clavicle fracture, pulmonary contusion, sternal fracture, liver laceration and traumatic rupture of urethra

Date resolved: 2/13/2023

Verdict or settlement: Settlement

Amount: $300,000

Attorney for plaintiff: Rakin R. Hamad, Alexandria

Description of case: The plaintiff, a 60-year-old male, was walking home in the morning. The defendant crashed into the plaintiff while making a left-hand turn. The defendant left the scene.

Police and EMTs arrived and the plaintiff was transported to Fairfax Hospital. The plaintiff did not have identifying information on his person and was unable to communicate due to a language barrier and his impaired physical condition. Due to the defendant leaving the scene and the plaintiff being unable to communicate, the police report had many errors. The police report identified the plaintiff’s brother as the pedestrian that was struck. It was later discovered that face recognition technology was used to identify the plaintiff’s brother on the police report. Another error was that the police report had the plaintiff being struck in the middle of the road and away from the crosswalk.

The defendant was eventually found later that night as he was pulled over due to his vehicle missing a side mirror. The next morning a witness that was a passenger in the defendant’s vehicle called the police department and reported the incident. With the new information, the detective opined that the plaintiff was struck in the crosswalk and the force of the impact pushed the plaintiff out to the middle of the road.

The plaintiff passed away due to unrelated reasons while the case was ongoing. A family member was appointed as administrator of the estate under Va. Code § 64.2-454 and pursued the case as a survival claim under Va. Code § 8.01-25. The case settled for the policy limits of $300,000.

Plaintiff’s counsel Rakin Hamad provided case information.

[023-T-080]