A pickup truck driver who smashed his vehicle into a car in Manteca, California in a severe car accident that caused injuries to its two occupants, left an unlikely calling card at the scene - his vehicle’s license plate. That was all the evidence police needed to nail the driver who had fled from the scene of the accident.

The passengers in the car were a young Taiwanese couple who were in the country on a visit. According to the Manteca Bulletin, the couple was on their way to Santa Clara at about 6 pm on Friday night, when their car was broadsided by a pickup truck. The truck’s driver didn’t wait around to see how he could help the occupants of the car. He fled from the scene.

The driver of the car, 35-year-old Chung Yuyu, told police that he had no recollection of anything that happened after the pickup crashed into his car. His fiancee, I-Seng Ling was trapped in the right side of the car, which suffered the greatest impact of the car accident. She had to be extricated from the car after rescue personnel removed the door to free her. Ling was taken to the hospital for treatment of her injuries.

The news story would have ended right there if police hadn’t found the license plate of the pickup truck on the road. They immediately contacted the Ripon Police Department to identify the vehicle, and match it with the license plate that he left behind. Within a few hours, it was established that the owner of the truck had indeed been the one driving the pickup. Ripon police officers went to his house, and administered breathalyzer, sobriety and field sobriety tests. According to officers, he failed and was booked. The truck driver tried to protest, the news report says, claiming that all he had were a few beers, but to no avail. He was taken to San Joaquin county jail.

The Manteca and Ripon police departments should be commended here for the excellent way they went about coordinating their efforts to locate the pickup driver. What could have been another hit and run accident has ended with a name and a face to the driver who caused an innocent couple, visiting from out of the county, so much harm. This young couple has had a much-anticipated visit run sour by the suffering they have been forced to undergo.

Ling, who suffered severe injuries to her neck and the right side of her body, will likely spend a few days in the hospital - paying out of her pocket for medical expenses and hospital bills that she shouldn’t have had to deal with in the first place. The couple must know that this country has ways in place to deliver compensation to innocent victims who have been injured by errant motorists. They must consider seeking the experienced counsel of a California car accident lawyer, so they can begin the process of recovering compensation for their troubles.