Posted by capt-ray on November 02, 2000 at 18:22:25:
For any of you planning a driving trip to Mexico, you should probably be aware of what is happening to me at the moment.
At the beginning of October, some friends and I went to Mexico with my new pickup, my 21 foot rigid hull inflatable, and a friend's 23 foot motorhome. On the return trip an inebreated local driving a small Honda hatchback crossed the center line of the highway and struck my boat trailer. He then spun around several times and struck the motorhome following me broadside, passenger side to. My rig was traveling at about 40 miles per hour and the motorhome was traveling at about 30 miles per hour when hit. The resulting crash killed the two people on the passenger side of the of the Honda. With the help of a number of people that stopped because of the crash, the driver and the driver side passenger were extracted and transported to a hospital in Guerrero Negro (100 miles to the south). Because of this effort they survived the accident.
The following morning the driver of my vehicle and the driver of the motorhome were detained and transported to San Quitin to be interviewed. All of our property was impounded.
After the interview, they were released by the local DA (Ministerio Publico) because the driver of the Honda was intoxicated at the time of the accident.
Later in the day, as we were attempting to procure the necessary documents to secure the release of our vehicles, one of our party was approached by a woman that represented herself as the wife of the driver. She indicated that she had spent $2500 to have him transported
by air ambulance to Ensenada and that she had no more money to care for him. Therefore, if we would not agree to pay his medical bills, she would see to it that we would never get our property back. We refused her attempt at blackmail and directed her to the DA (Minesterio Publico).
Now the DA that was handling the case has disappeared and the woman that has taken over the case indicates (second hand, as we have no direct contact with her) that apparently one of the decedants (passenger side passengers) was the driver and was sober according to the post-mortem. This is somewhat disconcerting as I saw the driver extracted alive. Also, it now appears that, according to their information, we crossed the centerline. Not true and we have the pictures to support this.
On top of all this I have just been informed that I did not purchase Mexican "Legal Insurance" and it will be necessary for me to pay for my own legal representation in Mexico.
It appears that once again the system of justice in Mexico has one set of standards for Mexican citizens and another for Americans.
I have no idea at this point if I will ever see my property again and if so, how much it will cost to retrieve it.
A somewhat sobering thought.
One might place some serious consideration on any planned trips to Baja or Mainland Mexico.
As things develop, I will attempt to post you on the progress.