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Isn't it illegal to leave the scene of an accident?? That is just sickening...that the 911 caller saw the car under the water with the headlights still on, and left!

" ... Police said the first thing to do after witnessing an accident is to call 911.

While there is no law requiring anyone to stop and help, there is a state law protecting Good Samaritans from liability if they do. ..."

Isn't it illegal to leave the scene of an accident?? That is just sickening...that the 911 caller saw the car under the water with the headlights still on, and left!

I thought you said you had LE in your family.

And for someone who is so determined that anyone who posts something not a fact should be burned at the stake, I do have matches if you have the time.

It is only against the law in NC for you to leave the scene of an accident if YOU are involved in that accident.

I can ride down the road behind you, watch you crash and burn, pull around you lying in the middle of the road and drive on.

Not nice. Not something you get a medal for, but not illegal.

Now there are various reasons for not stopping. I would let the person speak for themselves.

It might even have been someone whose heart or nerves just can't take watching someone die.

I recall once riding behind a woman on snow and ice. She spun out and ended up in the median. Dad and I were riding together. It was so slick I could not stop until after I had gone maybe 200 yards past her.

So we did a U-turn and went back to be sure she was OK and to help her get back out in the road. Others stopped by the time we got back to her and got out.

The first thing out of her mouth was "Someone cut me off and caused me to spin out." I looked at Dad and he at me and we asked her if she was OK, to which the answer was yes...then more howling about getting cut-off.

We got in our car and left her to get her own butt back in the road. Let her put the blame on someone else.

NC has a good Samaritan law, which protects you from being accused of hurting someone when you stop to help, but it does not protect you from someone claiming that you committed a crime by causing the accident to begin with.

The person who called and left could have been afraid of being accused of causing the accident. Who knows?

In searching for more on this topic, I found this. It is tedious reading and whether you dig through it all or not, you can see from a quick look that life is not always kind to the good Samaritan. http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/coa/opinions/2002/010351-1.htm Or "No good deed goes unpunished."

I am almost positive I heard David Crabtree on WRAL say tht it is against the law in NC to leave the scene of an accident; that would explain why some of the stories said that the State Patrol was talking to Brian Ross, the driver, but he would not be charged with leaving the scene.

I just can't find a link. :-)