A hit and run in Tucson, AZ is a criminal offense under state law, and the charge scales with what happened in the crash: a class 1 misdemeanor when only vehicles are damaged, a class 5 felony when someone is hurt, and up to a class 2 felony when a driver causes a collision that results in serious physical injury or death.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-662 – Accidents Involving Damage to Vehicle2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-661 – Accidents Involving Death or Physical Injuries The duties the law imposes at the scene are specific, and so are the consequences for ignoring them.
What Every Driver Must Do After a Crash
Arizona requires any driver involved in a collision that causes vehicle damage to stop immediately at the scene, or as close to it as possible without blocking traffic unnecessarily, and remain there.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-662 – Accidents Involving Damage to Vehicle Once stopped, you must give the other parties your name, address, and vehicle registration number. If someone is hurt, the law requires reasonable assistance, including arranging transportation to a hospital if treatment is needed or requested.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-663 – Duty to Give Information and Assistance
Clipping a parked car in a lot and driving off counts. If the vehicle you hit is unattended, you must stop and either find the owner to share your information or leave a written note with your name, address, and registration in a visible spot on the vehicle. Skipping that step is a class 1 misdemeanor, the same classification as leaving the scene of any other property-damage crash.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-664 – Duty on Striking Unattended Vehicle The same expectation applies when you strike a guardrail, sign, fence, or other highway fixture: locate and notify the owner or responsible party, provide your information, and report the damage.
Criminal Penalties by Tier
Property Damage Only
Leaving the scene of a crash that damaged another vehicle but caused no injuries is a class 1 misdemeanor. The maximum penalty is six months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-662 – Accidents Involving Damage to Vehicle Arizona adds court surcharges and assessments on top of the base fine, which pushes the amount actually owed well above the printed number.5Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee. Court Surcharges and Assessments The court may also suspend your driver’s license for one year.
Non-Serious Physical Injury
If someone is hurt but the injury doesn’t meet Arizona’s definition of “serious physical injury,” leaving the scene becomes a class 5 felony.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-661 – Accidents Involving Death or Physical Injuries For a first-time offender, the presumptive prison sentence is 1.5 years, with a mitigated low of 9 months and an aggravated high of 2.5 years.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-702 – First Time Felony Offenders Sentencing The court must revoke the driver’s license for three years, with the clock pausing during any incarceration.
Serious Physical Injury or Death
The most severe charges apply when the crash results in serious physical injury or death, and the classification depends on fault. A driver who was involved in but did not cause the accident faces a class 3 felony, with a presumptive sentence of 3.5 years and a first-offense range of 2 to 8.75 years. A driver who caused the accident faces a class 2 felony, with a presumptive sentence of 5 years and a range of 3 to 12.5 years.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-661 – Accidents Involving Death or Physical Injuries6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-702 – First Time Felony Offenders Sentencing License revocation is mandatory: five years for serious physical injury and ten years for a fatality, pausing during any prison time.
“Caused” vs. “Involved In”
That fault distinction is one of the most consequential details in Arizona hit-and-run law. A driver who rear-ends another vehicle and flees faces a class 2 felony. A driver who gets rear-ended and still leaves the scene faces a class 3. Both are felonies, but the sentencing gap is significant.
If You’re the Victim: What to Do and How to Report
Call 911 immediately if anyone is injured. Even when the damage is only to your vehicle, a prompt call creates the official record your insurer will later ask for. While you wait, write down anything you caught about the vehicle that left: make, model, color, and any part of the plate. Partial plates and distinctive features like bumper stickers or aftermarket wheels still help investigators narrow things down.
Photograph the damage, skid marks, debris, and the surrounding area, including any nearby businesses that might have cameras. Get names and phone numbers from anyone who saw the collision. Witnesses who are clear at the scene often become vague a week later. Then seek medical attention, even if you feel fine. Some impact injuries take hours or days to produce symptoms, and a documented visit close to the time of the crash strengthens both an insurance claim and any future legal case. Notify your insurer promptly; delays can complicate coverage under an uninsured motorist policy.
Where to report depends on where the crash happened and whether anyone was hurt. For property-damage-only incidents in unincorporated Pima County, the Sheriff’s Department offers an online Desk Officer Reporting System that generates the documentation you need for a claim.7Pima County Sheriff’s Department. Online Reporting The City of Tucson accepts non-emergency reports online or by calling 311. If you need an officer at the scene or there are injuries, call the Tucson Police Department’s non-emergency line at 520-791-4444.8City of Tucson. Contact TPD For incidents in unincorporated Pima County, Sheriff’s dispatch is 520-351-4900.9Pima County Sheriff’s Department. Contact Us After-hours emergencies always go through 911. Whichever channel you use, keep the case number; your adjuster will ask, and you’ll need it to request the official crash report.
Recovering Your Losses When the Driver Is Gone
When the other driver can’t be found, your own policy is usually the realistic path to recovery. Arizona law requires every auto insurer to offer uninsured motorist coverage, though drivers are not required to buy it.10Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 20-259.01 – Motor Vehicle Liability Policy Uninsured If you added UM coverage, it covers bodily injury and death caused by an uninsured driver, and an unidentified hit-and-run driver generally qualifies.
One wrinkle matters for crashes without physical contact, like a driver who swerves into your lane and forces you off the road without actually hitting you. Arizona requires corroborating evidence that the unidentified vehicle caused the accident. Corroboration means any additional testimony, fact, or evidence beyond your own account, such as a witness statement or dashcam footage.10Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 20-259.01 – Motor Vehicle Liability Policy Uninsured
UM coverage in Arizona applies to bodily injury, not vehicle repairs. For the physical damage to your car, you’d file under your collision coverage and pay your deductible out of pocket. If police later identify the driver and your insurer recovers from that driver’s carrier through subrogation, you may get the deductible back. Check your declarations page to confirm what you carry; a hit and run is exactly the scenario where declining UM coverage hurts most.
If injuries leave you with costs insurance doesn’t cover, the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission runs a Crime Victim Compensation Program that assists victims of qualifying crimes with expenses for physical harm, mental distress, and direct economic losses.11Arizona Criminal Justice Commission. Compensation Program Eligibility does not require that the offender be caught or convicted, which matters when the driver is never identified. The program is always the payer of last resort, so insurance and other recoveries must be pursued first. Reporting the crash to law enforcement promptly matters here too, because cooperation with investigators is a standard eligibility requirement.