Stroke causes car accident

[Ride Along]

Hello. I am going to court today with my Mom. A couple of months back she had a stroke while driving and rear ended a school bus. She doesn't remember much from the accident, so I am going just in case there are questions about the incident (I was the passenger). Now, there is no question that she hit the back of the school bus (no injuries, the bus driver didn't even know we hit them). Officer friends said that if the driver doesn't show to testify, she can plead not guilty and get off. This doesn't seem logical to me. She has a note from her doctor saying she did, indeed, have a stroke. Any ideas what I can expect in court today (I live in Illinois). Thanks!

 

[Ride Along]

Well, I got my answer. We showed at court yesterday, no Plaintffs or witnesses showed, so the judge dismissed the case. Fairly straightforward. Traffic court is a hoot. I can't believe people roll out of bed in their pajamas and flip flops and go before a judge.

 

[Camaro_94]

Glad to hear it worked out for ya! Thats pretty ****ed up that she got a ticket under those circumstances!

 

[FordSVTFan]

Glad to hear it worked out for ya! Thats pretty ****ed up that she got a ticket under those circumstances!

Really? The ticket was issued without the officer knowing she had a stroke. Additionally, that is a mitigator, not a defense. :bored:

 

[DaleM]

More evidence that stroking and driving should be illegal!

I hope your mom gets well and all turns out for the best of all involved.

 

[Ride Along]

Thanks, my Mom is doing fine now. The situation is really incredibly screwed up from the beginning. The officer (we confirmed this with some of her co-workers that this is her normal behavior) was rude. She asked if we had any injuries, I told her not from the accident, but I said there is something wrong with my mom, she is slurring and complaining of double vision, and not really making sense or following commands (I told her to stay in the car, and she got out and started wandering around in the road). The officer wanted her to pull the car up to where the bus was waiting even. I ended up having to do it even though I had recently had hip surgery and wasn't driving at the time (thus, the reason Mom was driving me around.) It took, I kid you not, an hour and a half until the paramedics even looked at her, and even then they released her. My step dad had to take her to the hospital. All is well in the end, though. Calls were made and all involved are better informed about what to do in a case like this in the future.

 

[S8ER01Z]

Hmm.. we (medics) train to identify stoke conditions, the fact that they took so long to even check her is criminal IMHO. If they missed obvious signs of stroke and took 1 1/2 hours to check on a patient to begin with they would be in a lot of trouble (it wouldn't end at a simple phone call and a slap on the hands). Where did this take place? Something seems out of place here.