Being charged as a hit and run driver is one of the most serious traffic offences in Maryland — and one of the few where a single decision, made in a few seconds of panic, can escalate a misdemeanour into a felony.
I’ve represented a lot of people in your position, and almost none of them were the person the charge makes them sound like. They were frightened. They weren’t sure what had happened. They drove a hundred yards and then couldn’t make themselves turn around. If that’s you, I’m not here to lecture you about it — I’m here to tell you what you’re actually facing and what can be done about it.
What You’re Actually Facing
Most pages about this will tell you the penalties are “serious” and leave it there. You need the numbers, because the range is enormous — from a $500 fine to a decade in prison — and where you sit on it depends on facts that can be argued.
| What happened | Maximum jail | Maximum fine | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Damage to an attended vehicle or property only (§ 20-103) | 2 months | $500 | 8 |
| Failing to give your information or render aid (§ 20-104) | 2 months | $500 | — |
| Accident causing bodily injury (§ 20-102(a)) | 1 year | $3,000 | 12 |
| FELONY — serious bodily injury, where you knew or should have known it might occur | 5 years | $5,000 | 12 |
| Accident causing death (§ 20-102(b)) | 5 years | $5,000 | 12 |
| FELONY — death, where you knew or should have known it might occur | 10 years | $10,000 | 12 |
Note the 12 points. Any hit-and-run involving injury or death carries 12 points on conviction — which on its own is enough to revoke your licence, independently of anything the court does.
The Words That Decide Whether This Is a Felony
Look carefully at the two felony rows in that table. They are not defined by what happened. They are defined by what you knew.
Under Md. Code, Transp. § 20-102(c)(3), the offence becomes a felony only where the driver “knew or reasonably should have known that the accident might result in serious bodily injury” — or death — and that outcome actually occurred.
Read that again, because it is the most important sentence on this page. The identical act, causing the identical injury, is a misdemeanour carrying one year if the driver did not know and could not reasonably have known — and a felony carrying ten years if he did.
That is not a technicality. It is the entire case, and it is where the real defence work happens: what could you actually see, hear and feel from inside the vehicle? What was the impact like? Was it night, was it raining, was the music on? Did the other party get up and walk? Everything about how the State proves — or fails to prove — that knowledge is contestable.
“I Didn’t Even Know I Hit Anything”
This is more common than people believe, and it is a genuine defence rather than an excuse.
A low-speed contact in a car park. A clip of a wing mirror in traffic. A parked car you never felt. A police report filed days later from a plate number. Every duty in the statute — to stop, to remain, to give your details — is triggered by being “involved in an accident.” If you did not know an accident had happened, the analysis is very different from the one the charging document assumes.
I’ve written about that scenario specifically in accused of a hit and run you didn’t know happened. If it describes your situation, do not try to explain it to the police first and get a lawyer second.
What the Law Actually Required You to Do
Section 20-104 sets out the duties, and it’s worth knowing them precisely — because “hit and run” is often really a failure to complete one of them:
- Render reasonable assistance to anyone injured, and arrange transport to a doctor or hospital if it’s requested or obviously needed.
- Give your name, address and registration number — and show your licence if asked — to anyone injured and to the driver or attendant of any damaged vehicle or property.
- Give the same information to any police officer at the scene or investigating.
- If nobody is there to receive it — no officer, nobody in a condition to take your details — you must report the accident to the nearest police authority immediately.
That last one catches people. Leaving a note on a windscreen is a decent instinct, but it is not, by itself, what the statute asks for.
How I Defend a Hit and Run Charge
The work is concrete:
- Attack the knowledge element — the difference between a misdemeanour and a felony, and often between a conviction and none.
- Test the identification. A plate number is not a driver. Can the State actually prove you were behind the wheel?
- Get the evidence — surveillance and dashcam footage, the damage profile on both vehicles, medical records that go to how serious the injury really was.
- Keep you from making it worse. Most of the damage in these cases is done by the client, to the police, before I’m involved.
- Negotiate. Restitution paid early, insurance engaged, a driver who came forward — these move prosecutors, and they move judges.
For the difference between the property-damage and injury cases, see Maryland hit-and-run: property damage vs. injury.
Maryland Counties I Serve
- Anne Arundel County
- Baltimore County
- Charles County
- Frederick County
- Howard County
- Montgomery County
- Prince George’s County
Frequently Asked Questions
Is hit and run a felony in Maryland?
Only in specific circumstances. Leaving an accident that caused bodily injury is a misdemeanour with up to a year in jail. It becomes a felony — 5 years for serious bodily injury, 10 years where someone died — only where the driver knew or reasonably should have known that outcome might occur. Property-damage-only cases are misdemeanours carrying up to 2 months.
I hit a parked car and drove off. How bad is it?
Far less bad than the injury cases, and it is fixable. You’re looking at a misdemeanour with a maximum of 2 months and a $500 fine — plus 8 points, which is the part that actually stings. Paying for the damage promptly and coming forward voluntarily both matter a great deal to how it resolves.
Should I talk to the police?
Not before you talk to me. Everything in these cases turns on what you knew, and a well-meaning statement explaining that you “thought you might have felt something” can hand the State the exact element it needs to prove the felony. Say nothing, and call.
Nobody has charged me yet, but I think they will. What now?
Then this is the best possible moment to call — and the one most people waste. Before charges are filed there is room to shape how the case is presented, to get restitution and insurance moving, and sometimes to affect whether it is charged at all.
What if I genuinely didn’t know I’d hit anything?
Then say so — to me, not to a detective. Every duty in the statute is triggered by involvement in an accident you were aware of, and the felony provisions are built explicitly on knowledge. This is a real defence, and it is won with facts about the impact, the vehicle, the conditions and the damage — not with assertions.
Call Before You Talk to Anyone Else
Whether you have already been charged or you are lying awake expecting it, the most valuable thing you can do right now is get advice before you give a statement to the police or your insurer. I’ll tell you honestly where you stand — including where the case is weaker than you fear — and what we do next.
Toll-free: 1-877-566-2408. Hablamos Español. For the full picture, see the Maryland insurance and hit-and-run guide.