Social media can play key role in solving car-bicycle crashes

For all of the hit-and-run accident victims and their families throughout the state of New York and beyond, coming to terms with an incident can be difficult when so many questions are left unanswered. Too often, serious and fatal bicycle accidents go either unreported or unsolved for the lack of evidence and/or eyewitness accounts. One woman will now be held accountable for causing a fatal hit-and-run bike accident now that the smart use of social media by law enforcement aided in her identification.

When law enforcement in Houston, Texas, faced difficulties determining who was responsible for causing the death of a 45-year-old bicycle rider, they turned to local news sources and Facebook for help. Police posted surveillance video footage believed to be connected to the incident online and ultimately received a sound tip that led to the arrest of the female motorist seen in the video.

The surveillance footage was viewed over 100,000 times and showed a woman driving away after pulling over to remove a damaged piece of her car. Investigators claim that the video shows what the female motorist did after she struck and killed a man riding his bicycle in the middle of the night.

Once she was identified as the suspect in the fatal hit-and-run case, the woman was arrested and charged with a felony count of causing an accident resulting in death. According to law enforcement and accident investigators, the use of social media was helpful in engaging the public and gaining invaluable insight into the case.

Source: click2houston.com, “League City woman arrested in hit-and-run crash,” Jennifer Bauer, March 19, 2014