Maine hit and run charges range from a Class E crime for property-damage-only incidents up to a Class C felony when someone suffers serious bodily injury or dies. The penalty you face depends on what happened in the collision itself, not simply the act of driving away. A conviction can carry anywhere from a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail at the low end to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine at the top.
What Counts as Leaving the Scene in Maine
Maine law requires every driver involved in a crash to stop at the scene or as close to it as safely possible and immediately return. Once stopped, you must give the other driver, an injured person, or anyone acting on their behalf your name, home address, and vehicle registration number, and show your driver’s license if asked.1Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 29-A 2252 – Accidents Involving Death or Personal Injury The same duties apply when you hit an attended vehicle and the only harm is to the car itself.2Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 29-A 2253 – Accidents Involving Vehicle Damage
Parked cars and other property are handled separately. Hit an unattended vehicle and you have to try to find the owner; if you cannot, leave a written note in a visible spot with your name, address, and a brief description of what happened.3Maine Legislature. Maine Code 29-A 2254 – Accidents Involving Unattended Vehicle Damage non-vehicle property like a mailbox or fence, or injure a dog, cat, or livestock, and you must take reasonable steps to notify the owner. If you cannot find them and an animal was hurt or killed, report it to law enforcement or the local animal control officer.4Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 29-A 2255 – Accidents Involving Property Damage
Reporting to police is a separate obligation. You must report immediately by the quickest means available any crash that causes bodily injury, death, or apparent property damage of $2,000 or more.5Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 29-A 2251 – Accident Reports That threshold is based on the market value of necessary repairs rather than the vehicle’s current worth, and modern body work crosses it easily. Failing to report when required is its own violation, so a driver can face a reporting charge on top of a hit-and-run charge.
The Three Charge Levels and Their Penalties
Maine’s hit-and-run penalties scale with the harm caused, and the jumps between tiers are steep.
Class E: Property Damage Only
Leaving after damaging another vehicle, a parked car, or other property without exchanging information or leaving a note is a Class E crime. A conviction carries up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.2Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 29-A 2253 – Accidents Involving Vehicle Damage6Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 17-A 1604 – Imprisonment for Crimes Other Than Murder The same classification covers hitting an unattended vehicle or non-vehicle property like a fence or mailbox.4Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 29-A 2255 – Accidents Involving Property Damage
Class D: Personal Injury
When the crash causes any personal injury and you leave without stopping, the charge becomes a Class D crime, punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.1Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 29-A 2252 – Accidents Involving Death or Personal Injury7Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 17-A 1704 – Maximum Fine Amounts Authorized for Convicted Individuals This is where consequences escalate quickly. Driving off from a cracked bumper and driving off from an injured person sit in fundamentally different legal categories.
Class C: Serious Bodily Injury or Death
The most severe tier applies when a driver intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly leaves the scene of a crash that resulted in serious bodily injury or death. That is a Class C crime, carrying up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.1Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 29-A 2252 – Accidents Involving Death or Personal Injury7Maine State Legislature. Maine Code 17-A 1704 – Maximum Fine Amounts Authorized for Convicted Individuals At sentencing, judges often weigh factors like whether the driver tried to hide the vehicle, was impaired at the time, or delayed turning themselves in.
License and Insurance Fallout
The Secretary of State’s office handles license sanctions separately from the criminal court, so a hit-and-run conviction brings administrative consequences on top of whatever a judge imposes. Getting your license back after a suspension requires filing proof of financial responsibility, which in Maine means having your insurance company submit an SR-22 certificate to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.8Maine Secretary of State. Financial Responsibility
That filing has to meet minimum coverage levels: $50,000 for injury or death per person, $100,000 per accident involving multiple people, and $25,000 for property damage.9Maine Legislature. Maine Code 29-A 1605 – Proof of Financial Responsibility Carrying an SR-22 obligation also means higher premiums, often substantially higher, for years after the conviction.
Defenses That Actually Work
Prosecutors have to prove the driver knowingly left the scene without stopping. That knowledge requirement is where most defenses live.
The first is lack of knowledge of the collision. If a driver genuinely did not realize a crash occurred, the knowing element is not satisfied. The argument has traction in situations involving minor contact at low speed, loud road noise, or large vehicles where an impact plausibly would not be felt. It falls apart quickly when the damage is significant or a pedestrian was struck.
The second is emergency circumstances. A driver who left to rush someone to a hospital for a life-threatening medical emergency may raise a necessity defense. Courts look at whether the emergency was real and whether stopping first was a realistic option.
The third is mistaken identity. Hit-and-run investigations often rely on partial plate numbers or witness descriptions, and the wrong vehicle owner sometimes ends up charged. Showing that the registered owner was not actually driving at the time is a straightforward factual defense.
None of these are automatic wins. They require evidence, and the lack-of-knowledge defense in particular collapses fast when the damage is anything more than trivial.
If You Panicked and Left
Returning to the scene or contacting police as soon as possible is almost always better for your case than hoping no one identifies your vehicle. Each hour you stay away makes it harder to argue you did not understand what happened, and it stacks a failure-to-report violation on top of the leaving-the-scene charge. If you have already been contacted by police or charged, the smart move is to stop talking about the incident and get a criminal defense attorney involved before you give a statement.