CALCRIM No. 2150. Failure to Perform Duty Following Accident: Property Damage - Defendant Driver (Veh. Code, § 20002)
Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions (2023 edition)
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(ii) Property Damage
2150.Failure to Perform Duty Following Accident:
Property Damage - Defendant Driver (Veh. Code, § 20002)
The defendant is charged [in Count ] with failing to perform a
legal duty following a vehicle accident that caused property damage [in
violation of Vehicle Code section 20002].
To prove that the defendant is guilty of this crime, the People must
prove that:
1. While driving, the defendant was involved in a vehicle accident;
2. The accident caused damage to someone else’s property;
3. The defendant knew that (he/she) had been involved in an
accident that caused property damage [or knew from the nature
of the accident that it was probable that property had been
damaged];
AND
4. The defendant willfully failed to perform one or more of the
following duties:
(a) To immediately stop at the scene of the accident;
OR
(b) To immediately provide the owner or person in control of the
damaged property with (his/her) name and current residence
address [and the name and address of the owner of the vehicle
the defendant was driving].
The driver of a vehicle may provide the required information in one of
two ways:
1. The driver may locate the owner or person in control of the
damaged property and give that person the information directly.
On request, the driver must also show that person his or her
driver’s license and the vehicle registration;
OR
2. The driver may leave the required information in a written note
in a conspicuous place on the vehicle or other damaged property.
The driver must then also, without unnecessary delay, notify
either the police department of the city where the accident
happened or the local headquarters of the California Highway
Patrol if the accident happened in an unincorporated area.
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Someone commits an act willfully when he or she does it willingly or on
purpose. It is not required that he or she intend to break the law, hurt
someone else, or gain any advantage.
The duty to immediately stop means that the driver must stop his or her
vehicle as soon as reasonably possible under the circumstances.
The driver of a vehicle must perform the duties listed regardless of how
or why the accident happened. It does not matter if someone else caused
the accident or if the accident was unavoidable.
You may not find the defendant guilty unless all of you agree that the
People have proved that the defendant failed to perform at least one of
the required duties. You must all agree on which duty the defendant
failed to perform.
[To be involved in a vehicle accident means to be connected with the
accident in a natural or logical manner. It is not necessary for the
driver’s vehicle to collide with another vehicle or person.]
[When providing his or her name and address, the driver is required to
identify himself or herself as the driver of a vehicle involved in the
accident.]
[The property damaged may include any vehicle other than the one
allegedly driven by the defendant.]
[An accident causes property damage if the property damage is the
direct, natural, and probable consequence of the accident and the
damage would not have happened without the accident. A natural and
probable consequence is one that a reasonable person would know is
likely to happen if nothing unusual intervenes. In deciding whether a
consequence is natural and probable, consider all the circumstances
established by the evidence.]
[There may be more than one cause of property damage. An accident
causes property damage only if it is a substantial factor in causing the
damage. A substantial factor is more than a trivial or remote factor.
However, it need not be the only factor that causes the property
damage.]
[If the accident caused the defendant to be unconscious or disabled so
that (he/she) was not capable of performing the duties required by law,
then (he/she) did not have to perform those duties at that time.
[However, (he/she) was required to do so as soon as reasonably
possible.]]
New January 2006; Revised August 2009
VEHICLE OFFENSES CALCRIM No. 2150
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BENCH NOTES
Instructional Duty
The court has a sua sponte duty to give this instruction defining the elements of the
crime. Give this instruction if the prosecution alleges that the defendant drove the
vehicle. If the prosecution alleges that the defendant was a nondriving owner present
in the vehicle or other passenger in control of the vehicle, give CALCRIM No.
2151, Failure to Perform Duty Following Accident: Property Damage - Defendant
Nondriving Owner or Passenger in Control.
If causation is at issue, the court has a sua sponte duty to instruct on proximate
cause. (People v. Bernhardt (1963) 222 Cal.App.2d 567, 590-591 [35 Cal.Rptr.
401].) If the evidence indicates that there was only one cause of property damage,
the court should give the “direct, natural, and probable” language in the first
bracketed paragraph on causation. If there is evidence of multiple causes of property
damage, the court should also give the “substantial factor” instruction in the second
bracketed paragraph on causation. (See People v. Autry (1995) 37 Cal.App.4th 351,
363 [43 Cal.Rptr.2d 135]; People v. Pike (1988) 197 Cal.App.3d 732, 746-747 [243
Cal.Rptr. 54].)
Give the bracketed paragraph defining “involved in a vehicle accident” if that is an
issue in the case.
Give the bracketed paragraph stating that “the driver is required to identify himself
or herself as the driver” if there is evidence that the defendant stopped and
identified himself or herself but not in a way that made it apparent to the other
parties that the defendant was the driver. (People v. Kroncke (1999) 70 Cal.App.4th
1535, 1546 [83 Cal.Rptr.2d 493].)
Give the bracketed sentence that begins with “The property damaged may include”
if the evidence shows that the accident may have damaged only the defendant’s
vehicle.
Give the bracketed paragraph that begins with “If the accident caused the defendant
to be unconscious” if there is sufficient evidence that the defendant was unconscious
or disabled at the scene of the accident.
On request, give CALCRIM No. 2241, Driver and Driving Defined.
AUTHORITY
• Elements. Veh. Code, § 20002; People v. Carbajal (1995) 10 Cal.4th 1114, 1123,
fn. 10 [43 Cal.Rptr.2d 681, 899 P.2d 67].
• Knowledge of Accident. People v. Carbajal (1995) 10 Cal.4th 1114, 1123, fn. 10
[43 Cal.Rptr.2d 681, 899 P.2d 67].
• Willful Failure to Perform Duty. People v. Crouch (1980) 108 Cal.App.3d Supp.
14, 21-22 [166 Cal.Rptr. 818].
• Duty Applies Regardless of Fault for Accident. People v. Scofield (1928) 203
Cal. 703, 708 [265 P. 914].
• Involved Defined. People v. Bammes (1968) 265 Cal.App.2d 626, 631 [71
CALCRIM No. 2150 VEHICLE OFFENSES
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Cal.Rptr. 415]; People v. Sell (1950) 96 Cal.App.2d 521, 523 [215 P.2d 771].
• Immediately Stopped Defined. People v. Odom (1937) 19 Cal.App.2d 641,
646-647 [66 P.2d 206].
• Statute Does Not Violate Fifth Amendment Privilege. California v. Byers (1971)
402 U.S. 424, 434 [91 S.Ct. 1535, 29 L.Ed.2d 9].
• Must Identify Self as Driver. People v. Kroncke (1999) 70 Cal.App.4th 1535,
1546 [83 Cal.Rptr.2d 493].
• Unanimity Instruction Required. People v. Scofield (1928) 203 Cal. 703, 710
[265 P. 914].
• Unconscious Driver Unable to Comply at Scene. People v. Flores (1996) 51
Cal.App.4th 1199, 1204 [59 Cal.Rptr.2d 637].
• Offense May Occur on Private Property. People v. Stansberry (1966) 242
Cal.App.2d 199, 204 [51 Cal.Rptr. 403].
SECONDARY SOURCES
2 Witkin & Epstein, California Criminal Law (4th ed. 2012) Crimes Against Public
Peace and Welfare, §§ 313-319.
6 Millman, Sevilla & Tarlow, California Criminal Defense Practice, Ch. 140,
Challenges to Crimes, § 140.03 (Matthew Bender).
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© Judicial Council of California.
