Lewisville Hit and Run DWI Lawyers

The DWI Side of the Case

The DWI charge accompanying an FSRA allegation is prosecuted separately under the Penal Code. Depending on the facts:

• §49.04 — Driving While Intoxicated. First-offense Class B misdemeanor; Class A if BAC is 0.15 or above.
• §49.09 — repeat DWI enhancements. Second DWI is Class A misdemeanor; third or subsequent is third-degree felony.
• §49.045 — DWI with Child Passenger. State jail felony when a child under 15 is in the vehicle.
• §49.07 — Intoxication Assault. Third-degree felony for causing serious bodily injury while intoxicated by reason of the intoxication.
• §49.08 — Intoxication Manslaughter. Second-degree felony for causing death while intoxicated by reason of the intoxication. On the CCP Article 42A.054 3g list so judge-granted probation is not available.

The Combined Exposure — Stacked Ranges

A typical hit-and-run DWI case involves parallel charges. Consider a single-defendant case in which a driver with a BAC of 0.12 struck another vehicle, caused a non-life-threatening injury, and left the scene. The charging array could include:

• DWI first-offense, Class B misdemeanor — up to 180 days in county jail, fine up to $2,000.
• FSRA (personal injury) under §550.021 — third-degree felony (2 to 10 years in TDCJ, fine up to $5,000).

The DWI alone would be a misdemeanor. The FSRA alone would be a third-degree felony. Charged together — as they typically are — the case carries third-degree felony exposure with the factual complication of two independent charges. Intoxication Assault under §49.07 may be added depending on the severity of the injury. Resolution of one charge does not automatically resolve the other.

Evading Arrest as a Layered Charge — §38.04

Where the flight from the accident scene continues past the arrival of law enforcement, Penal Code §38.04 Evading Arrest may be charged as a separate offense. Evading on foot is a Class A misdemeanor; evading in a vehicle is a state jail felony (third-degree if a prior evading conviction; second-degree if it causes serious bodily injury; first-degree if it causes death). This is an independent charge that carries its own exposure on top of the DWI and FSRA.

Defense Strategies in Denton County Hit and Run DWI Cases

The knowledge element on FSRA. FSRA under §550.021 requires that the driver knew or should have known of the accident and the injury. A driver who genuinely did not know they had been in an accident (because of low-speed contact, limited visibility, ambient noise, or distraction) has a possible defense to the FSRA charge that may not exist on the DWI charge. This is where careful investigation of the accident scene, vehicle damage patterns, and contemporaneous communications matters.

Identity. Where the state must prove that the defendant was the driver, identification issues can arise. Vehicle ownership is not enough; the state must prove the defendant was operating the vehicle at the time of the accident. Surveillance video, witness descriptions, and forensic identification sometimes tell a different story than the state’s initial theory.

Necessity and emergency. Under Penal Code §9.22, conduct otherwise constituting an offense is justified if the actor reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to avoid imminent harm. An emergency (such as leaving the scene briefly to avoid a secondary accident, to reach medical assistance, or because of a credible threat of violence at the scene) may support a necessity defense in the FSRA charge.

Separating the two charges. Because the DWI and FSRA are separate offenses, defense strategies often diverge. The DWI defense turns on probable cause for the stop, field sobriety testing, and forensic analysis of the chemical test. The FSRA defense turns on whether the driver knew or should have known of the accident and whether the state can prove the driver’s identity as the operator at the time of the accident. Each set of issues may support different resolutions.

Forensic challenges on DWI. Ethanol analysis in Texas is performed by headspace GC-FID at the DPS Crime Lab in Garland. Blood drawn long after the accident (particularly in hit-and-run cases where there may be hours between the accident and the test) raises retrograde extrapolation questions about BAC at the time of driving versus BAC at the time of testing. These are contestable issues that often determine whether the DWI charge holds.

Article 38.23 — no good faith exception. Stops, searches, arrests, and blood warrants are all subject to constitutional review. Texas’s exclusionary rule carries no good faith exception so evidence from an unlawful investigation is suppressible regardless of what it shows. Suppression motions apply to both the DWI and the FSRA investigation.

Civil Liability and Bankruptcy Non-Dischargeability

Beyond the criminal case, a hit-and-run DWI accident exposes the defendant to significant civil liability:

• Compensatory damages under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 41 — medical expenses, property damage, lost wages, pain and suffering.
• Exemplary (punitive) damages under §41.003 for gross negligence. Intoxicated driving that leaves the scene is often treated as gross negligence per se for exemplary-damages purposes.
• Auto insurance policy exclusions for DWI-related accidents, which may leave the defendant personally liable for uninsured damages.
• Civil judgment non-dischargeability in bankruptcy under 11 U.S.C. §523(a)(9) a judgment for death or personal injury caused by operation of a motor vehicle while intoxicated cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. The civil judgment follows the defendant indefinitely.

ALR and Driver’s License Consequences

On top of the criminal and civil consequences, the Administrative License Revocation process applies in the standard DWI ways:

• Failed test: 90-day ALR suspension on a first failed test (longer on repeats).
• Refusal: 180-day ALR suspension on a first refusal (2 years on a repeat).
• ALR deadline: 15 days from the date of notice of suspension.
• Criminal-court license suspension on conviction: 90 days to 1 year (first DWI), longer on repeats.
• FSRA conviction can trigger independent driver’s license suspension under Transportation Code §521.312.

Why Deandra Grant Law for Lewisville Hit and Run DWI Defense

• • Office in Denton. 30+ years in Denton County courts. 500+ trials to verdict. The Denton County Courthouse and the Denton County DA’s office are familiar ground.
  • Trained SFST Instructor — Deandra Grant. Field sobriety test administration, scoring, and interpretation challenged in every case.
  • ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist — Deandra Grant and Douglas Huff. Chemical testing and the State’s forensic evidence evaluated at the chemistry level.
  • Digital forensics training — Douglas Huff. Accident reconstruction digital evidence, vehicle telematics, surveillance footage, and cell phone records evaluated at the technical level.
  • Article 38.23 — no good faith exception. Every hit-and-run DWI case begins with the lawfulness of the stop, search, or seizure.
  • Federal defense capability. James Lee Bright handles federal cases in the Eastern District of Texas (Sherman Division).
  • 17 published law books. Including The Texas DWI Manual
  • Texas Super Lawyer since 2011. 

• AV® Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell®.

If you are facing hit and run DWI charges in Denton County, call (214) 225-7117 for a free, confidential consultation. Or schedule online at texasdwisite.com.