Quick answer: If you are charged with leaving the scene in Frederick County, you need a Frederick County hit and run lawyer because Maryland treats driving away from a crash as a crime, not a ticket. Under Md. Code, Transp. § 20-102, leaving a crash that causes injury can bring up to 1 year in jail, and a fatal hit and run is a felony carrying up to 10 years. The good news: many of these cases turn on whether you knew a collision happened, and a probation before judgment can keep a conviction off your record.
I’m David Waranch, and I’ve handled thousands of Maryland traffic and criminal-traffic cases, including hit and run charges filed in the Frederick courts. Here is how the law actually works and where these cases can be won.
What counts as hit and run in Frederick County?
Hit and run is the everyday name for leaving the scene of an accident. Maryland law requires every driver in a crash to stop, stay, and exchange information, no matter how minor the damage looks. Drive off before doing that and you can be charged even if the other driver was partly at fault and your car barely has a scratch.
The duties come from four connected statutes. § 20-102 covers crashes that injure or kill someone. § 20-103 covers a crash that damages an attended vehicle or property, meaning someone was with it. § 20-105 covers an unattended vehicle or property, such as a parked car in a Frederick lot or a mailbox off US-15. And § 20-104 spells out what you owe at the scene: your name, address, and vehicle registration, your license on request, and reasonable assistance to anyone hurt. If nobody is there to receive that information, the law requires you to leave a written note and report the crash to the nearest police authority.
What are the penalties for leaving the scene in Maryland?
The penalty tracks the harm. Property-damage cases are misdemeanors with short jail exposure. Once someone is injured or killed the charges climb fast, and the two most serious tiers are felonies. Here is the ladder, straight from the statute.
| What the crash caused | Statute | Level | Maximum penalty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Damage to an attended vehicle or property | § 20-103 | Misdemeanor | Up to 2 months jail and/or $500 |
| Damage to an unattended vehicle or property | § 20-105 | Misdemeanor | Up to 2 months jail and/or $500 |
| Bodily injury to another person | § 20-102(a) | Misdemeanor | Up to 1 year jail and/or $3,000 |
| Serious bodily injury (knew or should have known) | § 20-102 | Felony | Up to 5 years and/or $5,000 |
| Death (knew or should have known) | § 20-102 | Felony | Up to 10 years and/or $10,000 |
“Serious bodily injury” is a defined term: an injury that creates a substantial risk of death, or causes serious permanent or protracted disfigurement or loss of function. That definition, and the felony exposure that rides on it, is written into the statute.
“A person who violates this section and who knew or reasonably should have known that the accident might result in the death of another person and death actually occurred to another person, is guilty of a felony and on conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or a fine not exceeding $10,000 or both.”
You can read the full text of Md. Code, Transp. § 20-102 and the property-damage duty in § 20-103. For how those tiers differ, see our guide on Maryland hit and run: property damage vs. injury.
“It was just a fender bender, so I can settle up later.” No. Driving away from any crash, even a minor bump in a Frederick parking lot, is the crime itself. Injury, serious-injury, and fatal hit and run charges are must-appear criminal cases, not payable tickets you can mail a check to close out. And if a property-damage citation ever does show a prepayable amount, paying it is a guilty plea that becomes a conviction on your record. Requesting a court date instead keeps a probation before judgment on the table and costs you nothing to ask for.
How many points does a hit and run add to my license?
A conviction sends points to the MVA on top of anything the court does. Under the point schedule, failing to stop after a crash that damages an attended or unattended vehicle carries 8 points, and failing to stop after a crash that causes bodily injury or death carries 12 points. Failing to report an accident, a lesser charge, is 5 points. Twelve points is enough to trigger a license revocation, and eight is enough for a suspension, so the administrative hit can outlast the criminal case.
Points also follow you to your insurer, which is often the most expensive part. We break down how tallies work in Maryland’s point system in a nutshell, and how carriers react in our note on insurance after a hit and run. Keeping the conviction off your record protects the license and the premium at once.
What defenses work in a Frederick County hit and run case?
Most hit and run charges rest on an assumption: that the driver knew a crash happened and chose to leave. Break that assumption and the case gets much weaker. The defenses I use most often are:
- You didn’t know a collision occurred. A minor tap in heavy I-270 traffic or a low-speed brush in a crowded lot can go unnoticed. The injury and fatal tiers require that you knew or should have known, so knowledge is squarely in play.
- No injury actually occurred. If the harm the State alleges did not happen, the charge may belong on a lower tier, or not at all.
- You were not the driver. Owning the car is not the same as driving it. Identification from a partial plate, a grainy camera, or a shaken witness is often shakier than it first looks.
- You did stop and try to comply. Drivers who exchanged information, left a note, or returned and called police have a very different story than the charging document tells. And when the property owner is made whole through restitution, prosecutors grow far more open to a reduction or a non-conviction outcome.
These charges also tend to travel with others. If your case involves a reckless driving, driving while suspended, or DUI allegation, the defense has to address every count at once, not one at a time.
Can I get a PBJ for a Frederick County hit and run?
Often, yes, especially on the property-damage and lower tiers. Probation before judgment under Crim. Proc. § 6-220 lets a Frederick judge accept a plea or finding of guilt, then withhold the conviction and put you on probation instead. Complete the terms and the case is discharged without a conviction, which means no points for that charge and nothing that reads as a guilty finding on a background check. The felony injury and fatal tiers are much harder ground for a PBJ, which is why early strategy on those cases matters so much. See Crim. Proc. § 6-220 for the full framework.
If Frederick County police contact you, what should you do?
Many Frederick hit and run cases start with a phone call: an officer asks you to come in and “give your side.” That call rarely is harmless. Anything you say can help the State prove you knew about the crash, the very element they need for the serious tiers. Be polite, but don’t give a recorded statement before you talk to a lawyer, and preserve your own photos, dashcam, and insurance details. I regularly speak with investigators for clients so a nervous explanation doesn’t become the strongest evidence against them.
Where these cases are heard in Frederick County
Frederick County crashes cluster on the busy corridors, I-70 and I-270, US-15 and US-40, plus the lots and side streets around the city of Frederick and Urbana. Property-damage and misdemeanor hit and run cases are heard in the District Court in Frederick; felony injury and fatal cases, and any case where you demand a jury trial, move to the Circuit Court for Frederick County. For traffic matters beyond hit and run, see our Frederick County traffic lawyer page, and our statewide Maryland hit and run lawyer hub goes deeper on the law.
Frederick County hit and run: frequently asked questions
Yes. Maryland law requires you to stop, stay, and exchange information after any crash, even a parking-lot bump or damage to an unattended car. Driving away without doing that is a misdemeanor under Transp. Sections 20-103 and 20-105, punishable by up to 2 months in jail and a $500 fine, plus 8 points.
Leaving the scene of a crash that causes bodily injury is a misdemeanor under Transp. Section 20-102 carrying up to 1 year in jail and a $3,000 fine. If you knew or should have known the crash might cause serious injury or death, it becomes a felony, up to 5 years for serious injury and up to 10 years for a death.
Often, yes. A probation before judgment under Crim. Proc. Section 6-220 lets the court withhold a conviction and place you on probation; complete it and the case is discharged with no conviction and no points for that charge. It is most attainable on the property-damage and lower tiers and much harder on the felony injury and fatal tiers.
Law Offices of David R. Waranch — 301-563-9575 · toll-free 1-877-566-2408. Hablamos Español.
Last updated: August 2026. Statutory references: Md. Code, Transp. §§ 20-102, 20-103, 20-104, 20-105, 16-402; Crim. Proc. § 6-220. This page is general information about Maryland law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.