People v. Roche

SHINN, J.

An automobile driven by appellant struck a bicycle ridden by a young girl, throwing the latter to the street. In a prosecution of appellant for violation of section 480 of the Vehicle Code, which requires a.driver involved in an accident resulting in injury to any person to stop, give

[461]

Ms name, render assistance if necessary, etc., admissions of appellant, consisting of statements made to police officers, were received in evidence over her objection. Her statements were related as follows: “She then told us that she had been using the Dodge, that she was driving north on Hillhurst or some street, she was not quite certain of the street. She observed this girl on the bicycle and heard a slight ping and felt her car skid apparently to one side; that she looked back and observed the girl standing in the road brushing her clothes off. She thought there was no damage that amounted to anything and drove on.” The basis of the objection to this testimony was that no evidence had been presented which tended to show that appellant knew that her car had been involved in an accident or that any person had been injured. It is contended that such knowledge was an essential element of the

corpus delicti;

that it could not be established by the extra-judicial admissions of appellant; that proof of knowledge by independent evidence was necessary in order to lay a foundation for her admissions or declarations; that such proof was lacking and that it follows from such deficiency of evidence not only that her statements were erroneously admitted but that she stands convicted without competent evidence of one of the necessary elements of the crime charged.

(People

v.

Simonsen

(1895), 107 Cal. 345 [40 Pac. 440].)

Without discussing the legal premises upon which the argument proceeds, we will examine the evidence touching the question of appellant’s knowledge that she had been involved in an accident. The record discloses that the accident occurred at about 9:00 or 9:30 a. m. on a well-traveled street. The vehicles were traveling in the same direction, the car overtook the bicycle, struck the rear end of it, and passed to its left. Appellant immediately speeded up her car and left the scene rapidly, driving through an intersection just as the signals changed. These facts were testified to by a passenger who witnessed the accident from a car which was closely following that of appellant. The noise of the collision between the car and the bicycle and the fall of the bicycle into the street attracted the attention of a witness who was some 50 feet, away, and was also heard by the witness in the other car. The victim lay in the street until she was assisted to her feet and to the sidewalk, and while in the street did not stand alone or brush off her clothes.