When Will Workers' Comp Offer You a Settlement?
Written by the Hughes and Barnard Law Firm, PA marketing team and reviewed by Attorney Howard Hughes to ensure quality and accuracy.
Yes, if anyone was injured or killed. Under Florida Statute 316.027, a driver who willfully leaves the scene of a crash that causes injury commits a third-degree felony; one that causes serious bodily injury is a second-degree felony; and one that causes a death is a first-degree felony. If the crash caused only property damage, leaving the scene is a second-degree misdemeanor under a separate statute, not a felony at all. The statute applies to crashes on public and private property alike.
The Three Felony Tiers
Florida scales the charge to the harm caused, not to the driver’s intent:
| Result of the Crash | Charge | Maximum Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Injury (not serious) | Third-degree felony | Up to 5 years in prison |
| Serious bodily injury | Second-degree felony | Up to 15 years in prison |
| Death | First-degree felony | Up to 30 years, with a 4-year mandatory minimum |
“Serious bodily injury” has a specific legal meaning under the statute: a physical condition that creates a substantial risk of death, serious personal disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member or organ. A severe fracture or a traumatic brain injury would typically qualify; bruising and soreness generally would not. Penalties can also be enhanced when the victim is a “vulnerable road user,” a category that includes pedestrians and people working on the roadway.
Property Damage Only Is a Different Statute
If a crash results only in damage to a vehicle or other property, with no one hurt, leaving the scene falls under Florida Statute 316.061 instead — a second-degree misdemeanor rather than a felony. The line between the two statutes is drawn entirely by whether anyone was injured, which is exactly why a driver’s own account of “I didn’t think anyone was hurt” so often becomes the central dispute in these cases.
How the Criminal Case and Your Injury Claim Work Separately
A hit-and-run prosecution and a civil injury claim run on separate tracks, with separate standards of proof, and one doesn’t have to finish before the other starts. A driver can be convicted, or never even identified, and your ability to recover compensation doesn’t depend on either outcome. That’s largely because of uninsured motorist coverage, which exists for exactly this situation. Florida doesn’t require drivers to carry UM coverage, but it does require every auto insurer to offer it, and a rejection is only valid if you signed a written rejection form; if the insurer can’t produce one, the policy is generally deemed to include UM coverage. Your own PIP benefits also apply to your initial medical treatment regardless of who was at fault, or whether the other driver is ever found.
If You Were Hit by a Driver Who Fled
The practical steps to take in the moments after the crash matter just as much as the legal classification, covered in detail in “What to Do After a Hit-and-Run Accident in Florida” (link once both posts are published). If you’re already past that stage and sorting out a claim, our Port St. Lucie and Jupiter car accident lawyers can help you pursue it through your own coverage while the criminal side, if the driver is ever found, plays out separately.
How Hit-and-Run Cases Are Actually Investigated
Fleeing the scene doesn’t guarantee anonymity. Investigators regularly identify hit-and-run drivers through:
- Traffic and red-light cameras along the route,
- Paint transfer, broken glass, or vehicle parts left at the scene, which can be matched to a specific make and model,
- Witnesses who caught a partial plate or a distinctive feature of the vehicle,
- License plate reader networks, increasingly common on Florida highways, and
- Body shop tips, since a shop repairing fresh damage matching a reported hit-and-run is required to report it in many cases.
None of this happens instantly, which is part of why documenting everything you can at the scene still matters even when the driver is long gone.
Can You Be Charged If You Didn’t Realize You Hit Someone?
Florida courts have generally held that a driver isn’t guilty of leaving the scene unless they had actual knowledge of the crash, or knew or should have known, based on the nature of the impact, that it caused an injury or death. In practice, this becomes a factual dispute: hitting a pedestrian at speed is difficult to argue you didn’t notice, while a minor parking-lot contact might genuinely go unnoticed. It’s a real defense in some cases, not just an excuse, but it depends heavily on the specifics of the impact.
Penalties Beyond Prison Time
The prison exposure described above isn’t the only consequence of a hit-and-run conviction. A conviction also typically brings:
- A mandatory driver's license revocation of at least three years,
- A court order of restitution to the victim for damages or losses,
- Points added to the driving record, and
- A significant increase in insurance costs, when the driver can still obtain coverage at all.
Why Prosecutors Take These Cases Seriously
Leaving an injured person at the scene of a crash, rather than staying to help, is treated as its own moral and legal failure separate from the crash itself. Florida’s tiered felony structure reflects that: the law punishes the act of fleeing specifically, on top of whatever penalties might apply to the crash itself if the driver was also speeding, distracted, or impaired. This is part of why hit-and-run cases are frequently prosecuted aggressively even when the underlying crash might otherwise have been treated as a simple at-fault accident with no criminal exposure at all.
FAQ
Is every hit-and-run in Florida a felony?
No. It’s a felony only when someone is injured or killed. A hit-and-run involving only property damage is a second-degree misdemeanor.
What's the difference between a third-degree and second-degree felony hit-and-run?
It comes down to injury severity. A non-serious injury is a third-degree felony; an injury that meets Florida’s legal definition of “serious bodily injury” is a second-degree felony.
Do I still get compensated if the driver who hit me is never found?
Often, yes, through your own uninsured motorist coverage if you carry it, or through your PIP benefits, which apply regardless of who was at fault. UM coverage is optional in Florida, so the first step is checking whether your policy includes it.
Does the criminal case need to be resolved before I can file a claim?
No. The criminal case and a civil injury claim proceed independently of each other.
What if the driver claims they didn't know they hit someone?
That claim is a central issue in many hit-and-run prosecutions, but it doesn’t affect your ability to pursue compensation for your own injuries through your own coverage.
Can hit-and-run charges be reduced or dropped?
Sometimes, depending on the evidence of the driver’s knowledge and intent, but that’s a criminal-defense question separate from your civil injury claim.
Does it matter if the fleeing driver was uninsured?
Not for whether they can be criminally charged, but it matters a great deal for your compensation, since it’s exactly the scenario your own uninsured motorist coverage is built for.
What if I was the one who left the scene by accident, not realizing there was a crash?
Report it to police as soon as you realize what happened. Prompt self-reporting is treated very differently than fleeing and staying hidden, both legally and practically.
Can a hit-and-run charge be added to a DUI charge?
Yes. A driver who was impaired and then fled the scene can face both charges simultaneously, and fleeing is often treated as an attempt to avoid detection for the DUI itself.
Is there a difference between a hit-and-run involving a parked car and one involving a moving vehicle?
Both are covered by Florida’s leaving-the-scene statutes, though a moving-vehicle collision is more likely to involve injury and therefore the felony tiers described above, while a parked car is more often a property-damage misdemeanor.
Does it matter whether the crash happened on a public road or private property, like a parking lot?
Florida’s hit-and-run statutes generally apply anywhere a vehicle crash occurs, including private property, though how quickly law enforcement responds and documents the scene can vary depending on where it happened.
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