Hit and run penalties could increase

AUSTIN (KXAN) - An Austin attorney is joining with families of hit and run victims in Austin to call for stiffer penalties for those convicted of the crime.

David Courreges and Sarah Thompson were classmates at St. Mary's Law School and he keeps a photo of her in his office.
   
"I became involved in failure to stop and render aid issues because of Sarah," said Courreges.

Just before Christmas in 2006, Thompson was killed while walking home from a party with friends. A drunk driver plowed into her and kept going.

"This happens every day- in every city across the United States," Courreges said.

In Austin, police say 7,746 cases of someone leaving the scene of an accident have been reported since January 1. That includes minor bumps in parking lots or a sideswipe on the street.

But there have been 320 reported cases so far in 2012 of someone failing to stop and render aid. Those cases involve someone hitting a pedestrian, a cyclist or a person in a vehicle.

"Right now, somebody that's intoxicated has the choice to leave the scene and get a lesser penalty," Courreges said.

He has made it his mission to change that. In 2007, the legislature passed the Sarah Kathryn Thompson Act which upgraded the 'failure to stop and render aid causing serious bodily injury or harm' charge from a misdemeanor to a 3rd degree felony which increased the maximum penalty to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

"Quite honestly, I think that it is too light of a penalty," said Courreges.

Now he wants to go a step further and says he believes a bill will be filed this coming legislative session which would make the crime a 2nd degree felony and increase the maximum penalty to 20 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

"I don't want another mother or father having to wonder why their daughter or son's death is being treated any differently than if the person stayed," said Courreges.

He is working alongside the family of Courtney Griffin, who was struck by a vehicle and killed in May 2011. Gabrielle Nestande is charged with failure to stop and render aid in the case, along with manslaughter and intoxication manslaughter.