Hit and run driver finally tracked down months later — what do I do now?
This has been eating at me for months and I finally have a breakthrough, but I feel like I'm hitting a wall all over again.
Back in the spring, someone sideswiped my car overnight while it was parked in front of my house. A decent chunk of the driver's side got crunched — mirror, door panel, the works. My doorbell camera caught the whole thing but the angle was terrible and the plate was just barely out of frame. Classic bad luck. The driver slowed down, seemed to look around, and just... drove off.
I filed a police report, went through my own insurance, paid my deductible, and was without my car for almost a month. It was a huge hassle on top of just being really frustrating that someone could do that and just disappear.
Fast forward to last week — a friend of mine texts me out of nowhere saying she spotted a vehicle matching the description near a shopping center a few towns over, with damage on the side that lines up exactly with what hit mine. She managed to get a partial plate and I was able to cross-reference it with the footage I saved.
I called the police and gave them everything — the new plate info, the footage, photos my friend took. The officer I spoke to was nice but basically said it's up to the DA's office whether to pursue charges, and whether I'd ever get access to the other driver's insurance info depends on that process.
I feel like I handed this to them on a silver platter and now I'm just... waiting? Has anyone been through something like this? What else can I even do at this point — can I pursue this civilly somehow? Do I just keep calling the police? I want my deductible back at minimum.