Failing to stop at the scene of a crash that resulted in a person's death is a first offense punishable as what?
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A.
Class B misdemeanor with up to 180 days confinement.
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B.
Third degree felony with up to 10 years imprisonment.
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C.
Second degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in TDCJ. Correct
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D.
Class A misdemeanor with up to one year in county jail.
The answer is "Second degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in TDCJ."
The manual assigns second degree felony to failure to stop after a fatal crash, carrying 2 to 20 years in TDCJ. Sliding one row down the penalty table lands a driver on B, the tier the manual reserves for serious bodily injury cases rather than for death.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. Class B misdemeanor with up to 180 days confinement.
Class B is the tier for hitting an unattended car with $200 or more in damage, not for a fatal hit-and-run. This answer grabs the Class B tier from the unattended-vehicle penalty box further down the same chapter.
B. Third degree felony with up to 10 years imprisonment.
Third degree felony applies to failure to stop after serious bodily injury, not death. This answer slides one row down the penalty table and picks up the tier for serious injury instead of the tier for death.
D. Class A misdemeanor with up to one year in county jail.
Class A misdemeanor is far below the felony level the manual assigns for a fatal crash. This answer underweighs the seriousness of a fatal crash and puts it in the misdemeanor range.
This question tests your knowledge of Crash Procedures in Texas. Source: Texas Driver Manual, "Penalties for Failure to Stop," p.59..
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