I ran over a person with my car and got arrested for attempted murder and aggravated assault, will I be convicted of a crime?
Attempted Vehicular Assault
Attorney Brian Zeiger answers:
Attempted Murder
A car can be a deadly weapon. PA courts have been clear that your car is just as much of a weapon as a knife or a gun. There is a case called Packard where the person drove away from the victim, then turned their car around made a U-turn, then drove at the person and struck them with the vehicle. In that case, the act of using the car as a weapon was enough for attempted murder.
Also, in attempted murder cases, you must have a specific intent to kill. Therefore, in the case above, aiming the car at the person is the specific intent.
Aggravated Assault
In aggravated assault cases, you must have an intent at the time of the act that you knowingly or recklessly would cause serious bodily injury to the person.
This problem arises when someone is trying to get away from a bad situation. If you are in your car and you rightfully believe that you are being attacked while you are in your car, and you drive away and hit one of the attackers, breaking their sternum and their arm, are you guilty of any crime? When you ran over a person with your car, your intent was clearly to get away from the scene, not to injure the person, so you should be found not guilty.
Therefore, my answer to this important question is very fact-specific. Contact our Philadelphia assault lawyer to talk about your specific case.
