Kritter vs Johnson: Car Accident Liability Fight That Led to False Witness Charges

On November 8, 2013, 51-year old Rand Kritter was charged with evidence tampering, using his nephews as witnesses to avoid liability from his car accident one month ago, according to Kritter’s insurance claims specialist Shawn Dorson.

“His nephews, Sergio and Gerard Kritter were also charged for being false witnesses assisting Kritter,” Dorson added.

On the night of October 10, 2013, Troy Johnson was driving a straight road on De Anza Boulevard when Kritter turned left from the opposite direction from an uncontrolled intersection onto Bark Lane and struck Johnsons vehicle, according to the 23 year-old student from De Anza.

“I was driving straight when all of a sudden I see a vehicle on the opposite direction suddenly crossing my path as he is turning left and I could not react fast enough so he hit me,” Johnson said.

Police arrived to the scene shortly. According to one of the California DMV laws, a police report may only be filed if there are injuries or witnesses.

The responding officer, Sophia Fong, did not file a police report because there were no injuries and no witnesses were at the scene.

Kritter told pedestrians passing by that Johnson’s headlights were off when asked what happened according to pedestrian Richard Huynh who walked by after the incident.

The police hauled the two vehicles off the road to prevent road blockage.

Kritter’s nephews came out from the neighborhood to help take photos of the vehicles, according to pedestrians.

According to the 2013 DMV Handbook, a driver turning left on an uncontrolled intersection must signal for intent 100 feet before proceeding. Furthermore, the Handbook stated that a driver turning left must yield to oncoming vehicles.

Kritter argued that Johnson’s headlights were off at that time. “I couldn’t see him because his headlights were off,” the 51 year-old said.

Johnson counter-argued that his 2003 Toyota Corolla was equipped with auto-headlights, a function that most modern cars utilize to automatically turn on headlights.

After investigation, Kritter’s claims specialist Dorson offered to break even on liability, which means that both sides will take half the fault.

“50/50 liability means that both insurances only pays for their own client’s damages and does not have to pay the opposing side,” Dorson said.

Johnson believed that his headlights were on and denies any fault in this accident. He provided his insurance with invoices from the date of vehicle purchased. According to the invoice of purchase, the 2003 vehicle features Daytime Running Lights with Twilight Sensor.

After providing Kritter’s insurance with hard evidence that Johnson’s headlights were on, the 51 year-old man brought in his nephews who assisted him after the incident as witnesses, according to Kritter’s claims specialist.

Since Officer Fong stated that no police report was filed because no one was injured and there were no witnesses, the case was brought to court.

“It is an injustice for Kritter to tamper with evidence,” Johnson’s attorney Mike Shaffer said.

“It is natural for someone to not admit guilt when being involved in a car accident. Kritter’s only argument was that my client’s headlights were off. After providing proof of auto-headlights, he brought in fake witnesses? Something is not right there,” Shaffer added.

The court date was set on November 8, 2013 where Fong told the judge why there were no police report filed.

In addition to the words from the responding officer, the Judge played Kritter’s recorded interview from both insurances. According to the interview, when the claims specialists from both sides asked if there were any witnesses, he replied no.

Because Officer Fong stated that there were no witnesses or injuries and Kritter’s recorded statements showed that he acknowledged that fact, his nephews were incongruent with the incident.

“During investigation, Kritter acknowledged that there were no witnesses, even on audio. After providing proof that Johnson’s vehicle’s headlights were on, Kritter said he has witnesses. This is obvious that he lied,” Attorney Shaffer said.

Kritter was charged with tampering with evidence and modifying false claims to avoid liability. He was sentenced to one year in jail and was imposed a $20,000 fine. His nephews Sergio and Gerard Kritter, was charged with assisting a false claim. They were sentenced to six months with a fine of $10,000.

The car accident case closed after one month of investigation, leaving Kritter not only at complete fault, but behind bars along with his nephews.