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Huber v. City of Casper11/5/1986
Emerick Huber appeals convictions, affirmed by a district court acting as an intermediate appellate court, of violating a Casper city ordinance enjoining leaving the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident. Based on ordinance interpretation, we reverse.
In the early hours of Easter morning, 1985, appellant Huber, Sharon Hedges, and off-duty Highway Patrol Officer Brad Ward were returning in appellant's van from a Casper nightclub, bound for appellant's office. Near the cemetery they spotted a young woman in the darkness who "looked like she was in trouble." Huber, the driver of the van, stopped to offer assistance. The girl "looked like she had been hit a couple of times," and "her face was pretty messed up. She had been crying and looked a little bit shaky." She explained that her boyfriend had beaten her up and left her at the cemetery, and asked for a ride to her mother's house. Since the young passenger did not know her mother's address, Huber slowly drove the streets of North Casper until she spotted the house. As established by the undisputed testimony of Huber, Hedges and Ward, Huber pulled the van onto the sidewalk, turned off the engine, and placed the keys in his pocket.
Ward, who had been seated on the passenger side of the vehicle, testified at trial that he and Huber supposed the abusive boyfriend belonged to a motorcycle gang because, on the girl's arm, there was a "one percent" tattoo. He explained this curious emblem:
" 1 percent is a tattoo that motorcycle riders wear which * * * goes back to * * when the American Motorcycle Association came out with a statement regarding motorcyclists and said that 99 percent of all motorcyclists are good, honest, upstanding citizens and only 1 percent of the motorcyclists are the outlaw gang type members * * * that give motorcyclists a bad name."
Ward got out to help their bruised passenger alight. Suddenly, out of the quiet night, there came a mechanized roar, and Ward looked up to see four motorcycles heading toward the van. Assuming that the lead motorcyclist was the boyfriend, and possibly a member of a "one percent" outlaw gang, with potentiality for violence, Ward pushed the girl back inside the van, jumped in beside her, and yelled to Huber to drive away. Huber started the motor but not until after the lead motorcyclist had slid into and hit the rear of the still parked van. The reason for the motorcyclist driving into the van is conjectural, although evidence revealed that his blood alcohol content, measured after the accident, was .25 per cent. This condition and the circumstance of the van parked in a narrow street were likely factors precipitating the collision.
Huber, Ward, Hedges, and the young girl, unsure whether or not there had been an accident or injuries, drove to the police station and, they claim, there reported the possible accident and deposited their guest.
Huber was charged with three criminal offenses: leaving the scene of an accident; failure to report an accident; and illegal parking. He was convicted in a trial to the court and fined a total of $1,530, and the convictions were affirmed on appeal by the district court. The appeal was pursuant to Rule 1.03, W.R.A.P., providing for appeal to the district court from decisions of municipal, justice of the peace, and county courts. The present appeal results from that intermediate court affirmance.
On appeal here, Huber contests only the City of Casper Ordinance 18-81 convictions, and not the illegal parking charge. In relevant part, Ordinance 18-81 states:
"Section 1. Becoming Involved in an Accident and Leaving the Scene Without Giving Name and Addr
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