Because drunk drivers or those holding drugs often try to switch seats with a passenger after something like this or even after they get flashed down to be pulled over. Cops see it all the time. I don't see anything to suggest that happened here.
To her credit, she was the one who contacted the press. If she had something to hide, she would be attracting attention to herself.
Unfortunately, there isn't any indication that the reporter bothered to dig up the accident report to read statements by the other driver or the witnesses.
So we don't know what the other driver said. We really don't know what the witnesses said. The basics are that she was in an accident that was caused by someone else, and the police think there is basically an unreported victim - that being the phantom driver of her pickup.
To me, this does not rise to the level of a detention. The police should have simply taken all the statements and submitted the case to the District Attorney for a judgement on whether she may have broken any laws.
Because drunk drivers or those holding drugs often try to switch seats with a passenger after something like this or even after they get flashed down to be pulled over. Cops see it all the time. I don’t see anything to suggest that happened here.
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The writer of the article could have been clearer, but the impression I get is that witnesses told police that someone else was driving her car.