Injured in a Hit-and-Run in St. Louis?

Do not chase the other driver. The impulse is understandable, but pursuing a fleeing vehicle puts you and everyone else on the road at risk. Stay where you are, check yourself for injuries, and call 911 immediately.

Tell the dispatcher it was a hit-and-run. Give them everything you can about the other vehicle — make, model, color, partial plate number, direction they fled, any damage you noticed. Even a partial plate or a general vehicle description can be enough for police to find the driver. SLMPD and county-wide law enforcement investigate hit-and-run crashes regularly.

If you're able, flag down witnesses before they leave. Other drivers, pedestrians, people on porches — anyone who saw the vehicle or the crash. Their descriptions and any dashcam or security camera footage can be the difference between finding the driver and never identifying them.

Look around for surveillance cameras. Gas stations, ATMs, businesses, and traffic cameras at intersections may have captured the fleeing vehicle. Note their locations so your attorney or the police can request the footage before it gets overwritten — most systems record over old footage within 7 to 30 days.

Even if your injuries seem minor, get checked out at an emergency room or urgent care the same day. Adrenaline and shock mask pain. Soft tissue injuries, concussions, and internal bleeding don't always show symptoms right away.

Barnes-Jewish Hospital at 1 Barnes Jewish Hospital Plaza is St. Louis's premier Level I trauma center. SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital at 1201 South Grand Boulevard is a second Level I trauma center. Mercy Hospital St. Louis at 615 South New Ballas Road handles trauma cases in St. Louis County. For children, St. Louis Children's Hospital at One Children's Place is the region's only ACS-verified Level I Pediatric Trauma Center.

Tell the doctor you were in a hit-and-run crash. This creates a medical record linking your injuries to the crash on a specific date — critical evidence for your insurance claim. Without that documented link, your insurer may argue your injuries were pre-existing or caused by something else.

Keep every receipt, every doctor's note, and every prescription. Follow-up appointments, imaging, physical therapy, and specialist visits all build your claim.

Pull out your phone and photograph everything: damage to your vehicle from multiple angles, the intersection or stretch of road where the crash happened, skid marks, debris left by the fleeing vehicle, traffic signals or signs, road conditions, weather, and your injuries.

If any debris from the other vehicle is on the scene — a bumper piece, paint transfer, broken mirror, headlight fragments — do not move it. Point it out to the responding officer. That physical evidence can help identify the make and model of the vehicle and potentially lead to the driver.

Write down exactly what happened while it's fresh. What direction were you traveling? What direction was the other vehicle going? Where did it hit your car? What did the impact feel like? What did the other vehicle do immediately after — did it slow down, swerve, accelerate? Did it have its lights on? Were there passengers?

If witnesses gave you their information, text yourself their names and numbers immediately so you don't lose them. Witness testimony is often the key to identifying hit-and-run drivers.

If SLMPD responded to the scene, they'll generate a crash report. Make sure the report reflects that the other driver fled — this is a crime in Missouri, and the criminal investigation can uncover the driver's identity through license plate databases, surveillance footage review, and canvassing body shops for vehicles matching the damage profile.

If officers did not respond, file a report yourself. SLMPD accepts online reports for non-emergency hit-and-runs where one party left without providing required information — check the SLMPD website. You can also visit any SLMPD district station in person. Missouri law requires drivers to report crashes involving injury, death, or property damage of $500 or more within 5 days if not investigated by law enforcement (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 303.040).

To obtain your crash report, contact the SLMPD Records Service Center at 1915 Olive Street, 1st Floor, St. Louis, MO 63103, phone (314) 444-5551 (Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM). Fee is $6 to $10. Payment by cash, money order, or business check only. Reports can also be requested online through the SLMPD Public Records portal. Allow 5 to 10 business days.

For crashes on Missouri highways, request reports through the Missouri State Highway Patrol or the LexisNexis BuyCrash portal. Fee is $6.00 per report.

When the driver who hit you flees and is never identified, your primary path to compensation is your own uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. Missouri is one of the states that mandates UM coverage on every auto policy — it cannot be waived.

Missouri's minimum UM coverage is $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. Many Missouri drivers carry higher UM limits, especially if they have an umbrella policy. Check your declarations page to see what you're carrying.

UM coverage can pay for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages — just like a claim against the at-fault driver's policy would. The key difference is that you're filing a claim against your own insurance company. Your insurer owes you a duty of good faith, and bad faith claim handling can expose them to additional liability under Missouri law.

If the hit-and-run driver is eventually identified, you can pursue a claim directly against their insurance. Missouri's minimum liability requirements are 25/50/25: $25,000 per person for bodily injury, $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $25,000 for property damage. But approximately 20.7% of Missouri drivers are uninsured — which is well above the national average — so even finding the driver doesn't guarantee they have coverage.

Leaving the scene of an accident is a crime in Missouri. Under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 577.060, the penalties escalate based on severity: if the crash caused death, it's a Class D felony carrying up to 7 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. If the crash caused physical injury or property damage over $1,000, it's a Class E felony with up to 4 years. Property damage under $1,000 with no injury is a Class A misdemeanor. A conviction adds 6 to 12 points to the driver's record — and 12 points within a year triggers a one-year license revocation.

The criminal investigation runs parallel to any civil claim you file. SLMPD routinely pulls footage from city cameras, private security cameras, and traffic cameras in the crash area. They run registration databases when partial plates are obtained, collect physical evidence like debris and paint transfer, and canvass witnesses. SLMPD doubled its joint traffic operations with the Missouri State Highway Patrol in 2024, issuing approximately 27,000 traffic tickets. If the driver is found and charged, the criminal case and your civil claim proceed independently — but a criminal conviction or guilty plea can strengthen your civil case significantly.

Even if the driver is never found criminally, your civil claim through UM coverage is unaffected. The two tracks are separate — you don't need a criminal conviction to recover compensation.

Under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120, you have five years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. This is one of the longest statutes of limitations in the country. The clock starts on the date of the crash, not the date the driver is identified.

For wrongful death resulting from a hit-and-run, the deadline is three years from the date of death (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.100). For claims against government entities — for example, if a road design defect contributed to the crash or your inability to identify the driver — 90-day notice may be required under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.600.

Your UM claim has its own deadline, which is governed by your insurance policy terms. Most policies require prompt notice of the claim. Don't wait — file the UM claim as soon as possible after the crash, even if you hope the driver will eventually be found.

Hit-and-run cases have a dual track: pushing for the driver to be identified (which opens up their insurance), and filing a UM claim against your own policy (which provides compensation regardless). An attorney experienced in hit-and-run cases can manage both simultaneously.

An attorney can push the police investigation forward by requesting surveillance footage from nearby businesses, obtaining traffic camera data, and hiring private investigators if needed. They can also handle your UM claim — which, despite being against your own insurer, can be adversarial. Insurance companies routinely try to minimize UM payouts.

St. Louis City is an independent city — not part of St. Louis County. Your case will be filed in either the 22nd Judicial Circuit (city) or the 21st Judicial Circuit (county) depending on where the crash happened. An experienced St. Louis attorney will know the correct jurisdiction.

Initial consultations are free, and most hit-and-run attorneys in St. Louis work on contingency — you pay nothing unless they recover compensation for you. Given the complexity of hit-and-run cases and the insurance dynamics involved, professional representation can make a significant difference in the outcome.