CALCRIM No. 2151. Failure to Perform Duty Following Accident: Property Damage - Defendant Nondriving Owner or Passenger in Control (Veh. Code, § 20002)
Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions (2024 edition)
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2151.Failure to Perform Duty Following Accident: Property
Damage - Defendant Nondriving Owner or Passenger in Control
(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. The defendant [owned and] was riding as a passenger in a vehicle
involved in an accident;
2. At the time of the accident, the defendant had full authority to
direct and control the vehicle even though another person was
driving;
3. The accident caused damage to someone else’s property;
4. 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
5. The defendant willfully failed to perform one or more of the
following duties:
(a) To cause the vehicle to immediately stop at the scene of the
accident;
(a) OR
(b) To 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 driver of the vehicle the
defendant [owned and] was a passenger in].
The (owner/passenger in control) may provide the required information
in one of two ways:
1. He or she may locate the owner or person in control of the
damaged property and give that person the required information
directly. On request, he or she must also show that person his or
her driver’s license, or any other available identification, and the
vehicle registration;
OR
2. He or she may leave the required information in a written note in
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a conspicuous place on the vehicle or other damaged property. He
or she 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.
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 (owner/passenger in control)
must cause the vehicle he or she is a passenger in to stop as soon as
reasonably possible under the circumstances.
The (owner/passenger in control) 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 an accident means to be connected with the accident in
a natural or logical manner. It is not necessary for the vehicle to collide
with another vehicle or person.]
[The property damaged may include any vehicle other than the one the
defendant allegedly (owned/was a passenger in).]
[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 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.]]
[If the defendant told the driver to stop and made a reasonable effort to
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stop the vehicle, but the driver refused, then the defendant is not guilty
of this crime.]
New January 2006
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 was a
nondriving owner present in the vehicle or other passenger in control. If the
prosecution alleges that that the defendant drove the vehicle, give CALCRIM No.
2150, Failure to Perform Duty Following Accident: Property Damage - Defendant
Driver.
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 an accident,” if that is an issue
in the case.
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.
Give the bracketed paragraph that begins with “If the defendant told the driver to
stop” if there is sufficient evidence that the defendant attempted to cause the vehicle
to be stopped.
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].
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• 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
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].
• Nondriving Owner. People v. Rallo (1931) 119 Cal.App. 393, 397 [6 P.2d 516].
• 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].
• 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).
2152-2159. Reserved for Future Use
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