They broke my car window and got caught by police; can I get them to pay for it? Can I help to increase their penalty somehow?

August 13, 2004 3:27 PM

Some punks nailed the passenger window on my Jeep early Thursday morning in an effort to get to the stereo...

Thankfully, the local police were watching and apprehended the suspects. I went ahead and fixed the window, but how should I handle this? I want to extract the most justice as possible and get my repair costs back. Thoughts?

posted by cinematique to law & government (13 comments total)

Um, show a receipt to the police and ask that the judgement against them include the costs to repair your vehicle?

What else do you want from this?
posted by mathowie at 3:35 PM on August 13, 2004

mathowie: I'm dumb about what to do in situations like this. My suspicion is that most people who haven't been through this, aren't lawyers, or don't know lawyers, don't know either. I'd be wondering if I had to take them to small claims court in addition to pressing criminal charges or something, or wondering if the best way to not even get my hands dirty but still get my money would be to call in my insurance company.
posted by namespan at 3:46 PM on August 13, 2004

Mathowie is right. You want restitution tacked onto the case.
posted by thomcatspike at 3:47 PM on August 13, 2004

Contact the local police and tell them you have the receipt for the damages, and ask them what options you have for restitution (you had to drive to the glass maker, you lost a day of work to do it, you put up with a bunch of shit... etc). The police will tell you what you *basically* need to do from there.

You are very lucky the police caught those fucks. Please refrain from calling criminals punks.
posted by Keyser Soze at 5:26 PM on August 13, 2004

The use of "punks" to describe rotten little fucks is a lot older than the use of "punk" to describe the particular social movement you're likely thinking of, Keyser.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:25 PM on August 13, 2004

Stack up the charges for as much as you can (missed work, threw up my lunch, etc) and then sick your dog on them. Make sure the punks have parents, that you are not trying to get blood from a stone.

I might take some of the charges you don't think really stand up to muster and ask that the kids do community service somewhere really heinous in lieu of that. "I am willing to forgo restitution on my lunch in return for 200 hours of candy striping" :-)
posted by xammerboy at 7:21 PM on August 13, 2004

The use of "punks" to describe rotten little fucks is a lot older than the use of "punk" to describe the particular social movement you're likely thinking of, Keyser.

Word. If you're going to defend the word punk as Holy to a certain musical era, on behalf of jailhouse queens everywhere, rename your musical movement.
posted by yerfatma at 7:27 PM on August 13, 2004

Restitution is fine and all, but it involves the payment of money. Where are kids who smash car windows going to find $900 to pay the court clerk?

If you want a new, free, car window, call your insurance company and don't worry about justice being served. Some states have a $0 deductible for auto glass.
posted by PrinceValium at 9:11 PM on August 13, 2004

What is all this talk about a musical movement and jailhouse queens? Punk is a genre?
posted by Keyser Soze at 10:18 PM on August 13, 2004

>Where are kids who smash car windows going to find $900 to pay the court clerk?

Who cares? The minute they have money and buy something, like a car, you own it. Just remember to check each year if they own a car, and if they do, and haven't paid, ask for a lien against it. You'll be given it. Then you can repo it. And yes, if they'd like to see the vehicle again, they'll need to pay you the towing, repo, impound, and most importantly, original judgement fees first. You might even be able to tack the standard bank interest rate on the old debt.

Basically, even if you don't get paid, you get to serve up some cold revenge later. No jeep window beats the look on a deadbeat's face when their ride to work is missing the next morning. Or so I recall from that repo show...
posted by shepd at 2:51 AM on August 14, 2004

Punk is a genre?

No, punk is the thing you aren't if you think you are and as much as I like the ethos, it's dead. And attempts to revive it are so antiethical to the idea it's . . . well, you'll find out someday, I guess.
posted by yerfatma at 7:39 AM on August 14, 2004

I guess I'm worried that they'll get fined and will be let off - in other words - able to do this again.

About the insurance... we already claimed my 1st stereo that was stolen about a month ago and my mom hit a deer a few months before that. We don't want to claim this since it would make three claims for the year.
posted by cinematique at 7:40 AM on August 14, 2004

"I guess I'm worried that they'll get fined and will be let off - in other words - able to do this again."

You can count on it. However, short of making the petty larceny sentence ten years in prison, I don't see much that can be done to prevent them from doing it again.

Your best bet is probably to talk to the prosecutors office and make sure restitution is tacked on, making it very expensive is the best deterrent your likely to come up with. Also ask about a crime victims compensation fund, they may pay your damages and allow resitution to be made to them rather than directly to you.
posted by cedar at 10:48 AM on August 14, 2004