New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes

There could be new detectives on the block, located in your nearest auto shop. A new state bill aims at trying to stop hit-and-run drivers from getting away.

We see hit-and-run crashes in southwest Florida often. So distressingly common that it feels like every day.

“I came back to my car after going into a 7/11 came back to the car and somebody had hit my brand new car on the front bumper,” Lee Weeks, a Naples resident, said.

He isn’t alone. Florida saw more than 100,000 hit-and-runs in 2023.

Weeks had his car for three weeks and he found it hit with no note. He took his car to get fixed at Supreme Collision on Friday. It’s a large non-corporate car service center.

The owner of the shop, J.R. Nocera, said hit-and-runs are the most common reason why people come to his shop.

“I could say this happens a minimum of 10 times a week where somebody has came in and said, ‘I came out to my vehicle. My vehicle was hit down the side or in the front, and nobody left the note,'” Nocera said.

Changes could be coming to Florida. A new law filed on Tuesday would require car shops, before making any repairs to cars, to see a police report or create their own report and give it to law enforcement.

Senator Joe Gruters, who represents part of Sarasota County and Charlotte County is the bill’s sponsor. This is the second time lawmakers have tried to pass this. The hope is if passed, the law change would allow any cars involved in a hit-and-run to be better identified. 

“I’m not an investigator, but I can tell you how the car got hit and why the car looks like it does,” Nocera said.

Nocera is in support of the bill, even if it’s extra work for his team. He said he already writes reports up for his clients, detailing the damage on their cars, so the extra step of sending it to law enforcement is not a problem.

He said it does become a problem if he is required to become the investigator himself and physically retrace the steps of the cars whereabouts. At this time, the bill would not require shops to conduct a whole investigation.

When a person brings in their damaged car, auto shop mechanics would be required to work with police before making repairs.

The bill is called the “Lilly Glaubach Act,” named after a 13-year-old who was killed in Sarasota in 2022 while riding her bike. The driver took off but was eventually caught.

The hope is the bill will help identify cars that are involved in a crash and flee.

“I think it would be beneficial. It’d be very difficult to trace that back, but especially when you’re looking at colors of cars and where they’re damaged, that might help. But if it doesn’t leave any color from the other car and everything, probably hard, but worth trying for all the people that are gonna get stuck with the with the charge for it,” Weeks said.

Nocera said many after experiencing a hit and run, are on a mission to find the car and driver who hit them.

“We have had people, quite a few, come by to our shop and say there are looking for a particular car. They ask, ‘Have you seen it?’ And in some cases, yes, we have. But in some cases, we’ll say we’ll keep an eye out for you,” Nocera said.

With the increased role of technology, such as traffic light cameras and surveillance video, hit-and-run victims have a better chance of identifying suspect vehicles.

He said there have been times when both the victim of the hit and run and the fled car are on the same lot in Supreme Collision.

“I’d say 10 times, in probably three years, where someone’s looking for a car, and as they’re here getting an estimate, the car is on my lot. At that point, as an owner, I have to back off and stay out of it. And say, ‘I have nothing to do with this, you have to deal with the law, go to the police,'” Nocera said.

Nocera ended the interview with WINK News with, “Be the good Samaritan and leave a note that you did it. It’s only good karma for you.”