McAllen Police Department Answers Nena's Question: "Do You Have to Report An Accident If Your Vehicle Hits A Skunk?"

Marisa Govea Hernandez, the mother of a Cameron County Deputy Sheriff, realized her white Volkswagen struck something February 28, 2015 while driving south on FM 803.  Three days later, a construction worker, walking along that same road, discovered the body of Mary Tipton, laying facedown in the ditch adjacent to the road.

A court hearing revealed an initial 911 call from the deputy sheriff son of the driver, indicating that an animal had been hit.(Later, the deputy speculated his mother had hit a skunk.)  Next, a dispatcher calls out the report and Officer Nino volunteers to go. Later, Nino calls back to say there's nothing to report.

Ralph Tipton

Ralph Tipton, husband of the victim, has shared dozens of pictures with us via a dropbox, showing extensive damage to the VW, including the headlight, sideview mirror, quarter   panel and windshield, much more damage than any reasonable, honest individual could assume was caused by hitting a skunk.

Nena Barton

Nena brought up an interesting question Saturday: Would an accident involving a vehicle hitting a small animal legally have to be reported?  DPS Austin was closed Saturday, so we called today. We were told that it was DPS policy to refer questions of that nature to local police departments.

We called the McAllen Police Department and our call was directed to Sgt. Tony Gonzalez.  Officer Gonzalez explained that an accident involving a vehicle hitting a small animal would only need to be reported if the damage exceeded $1,000. Hitting a domestic animal, like a horse or cow would likely result in at least $1,000 damage and need to be reported.  Striking and injuring or killing an endangered species would have to be reported. Officer Gonzalez cited one additional reason to file an accident report; to get the damage to your vehicle covered by your insurance company. None of us can read minds, but could that final reason have been the motivation for Mrs. Hernandez, through her deputy sheriff son, to proceed with an accident report, that is, to get her VW fixed?

Sheriff Omar Lucio

In Cameron County, Sheriff Omar Lucio sets a tone of disregarding the law pertaining to traffic accidents.  Certainly, the sheriff's deputies have picked up on the sheriff's cavalier attitude toward Texas law on reporting accidents. 

Repeatedly, Lucio has mollycoddled Officer Gus Reyna, after at least two accidents involving damages far exceeding $1,000 and, in at least one case, bodily injury.  Reyna reported neither accident.  Here is the link to our 2014 story: http://brownsvilleobserver.blogspot.com/2015/09/issues-facing-longtime-cameron-county.html