LITTLE ROCK — A state legislator’s vehicle license plate shows up on a police report on a hit-and-run incident in Little Rock last month, but the lawmaker said Wednesday that’s news to him.
Rep. Mark Biviano confirmed that he owns the blue Ford F-150 pickup with House of Representatives license plate 65 that’s listed in the police report as striking a white 2003 Toyota Corolla when pulling away from an area at the Capital Hotel at 10:33 p.m. on April 9.
The report states that the truck drove away after hitting the car.
Biviano also confirmed that he was driving the truck but said he did not drive away from the accident prematurely. He said he exchanged insurance information with the other driver, a point on which she disagreed Wednesday.
In the report, Biviano’s pickup is listed in the section that has the “suspect” heading. The incident type is listed as “hit and run.”
“I don’t know anything about a police report,” the Searcy Republican said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “We had a little fender bender down in Little Rock.”
Biviano’s license number, 65, reflects his standing in House seniority.
Michelle Hodges of Benton, listed in the police report as the driver of the Toyota, said she and her children were going home from a dance competition that night when her car was struck between the back edge of a door and the taillight as the truck pulled out from a valet station at the Capital Hotel on Markham Street.
Hodges said her daughter and son were in the back seat. She was at a stop sign, she said, and got out of the car after it was hit. She said she spoke to Biviano, who agreed to exchange insurance information with her, and she said he suggested that they first move their vehicles out of the way of traffic.
“He said, ‘I didn’t see you,’” Hodges said.
She moved her vehicle - “I pulled up a little bit” - but Biviano “pulled around and left,” she said.
Hodges said it took the truck a few moments to maneuver through traffic and she had time to write down the license plate number.
“I’m not really sure why he left,” Hodges said. “There’s nothing else I really know except he hit my car, and he left.”
The incident report states that the pickup went east on Markham Street and turned south onto Main Street.
“That’s not true,” Biviano said Wednesday. “We had a discussion and exchanged information. It was taken care of.”
He said he cannot explain why Hodges would file a police report if he had exchanged insurance information with her.
“I have no idea. Until you just told me she filed a police report I have no idea one was filed,” Biviano said.
Hodges said that after she called 911, a police officer told her a warrant for the truck driver’s arrest would be filed. She said she has heard nothing from the police.
The Little Rock city clerk and the Pulaski County clerksaid they have no warrant for Biviano.
Little Rock Police Department spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings said the department receives “thousands” of calls about vehicles damaged in hit-and-run accidents, and the department cannot always follow up quickly if there is no fatality involved.
Hastings said the delay was not special treatment for a lawmaker but happened because the license plates available to legislators are not searchable in the Arkansas Crime Information Center system.
Hastings said the hit-and-run investigator had to call the House of Representatives to determine who has those plates and has not received a response. He was not sure when the investigator had contacted the House.
The Democrat-Gazette had the license-plate information from Capitol police within minutes Wednesday.
Lawmakers who want specialty plates have to prove that their vehicles are registered and licensed by the state, House Chief of Staff Bill Stovall said.
They have to carry their regular tags in the vehicles to present to law enforcement, he said.
Hastings said leaving the scene of an accident is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.
Hodges said her husband figured out which lawmaker had House license plate number 65 and called Biviano on April 11, the Monday after the accident. She said that at that point Biviano agreed to have his insurance company payfor the damage.
She said the insurance estimate said it would cost $11,000 to fix the damage. The police report estimated the damage at $500.
Biviano blamed Hodges for the accident.
“She actually pulled into me. I didn’t want to argue with her. I just turned it over to my insurance company,” Biviano said. “It was extremely minor. We resolved it, and my insurance company has taken care of it.”
After speaking with the Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday, Biviano called the Police Department to give his side of the story. Hastings said Biviano told police that he gave Hodges his business card before leaving, which Hastings said would satisfy the requirements of the law.
Arkansas Code Annotated 27-53-103 requires drivers involved in accidents that cause death, injury or property damage to exchange names, addresses and vehicle registration numbers. It also requires people in those situations to wait at least 30 minutes if they know that the police have been called.
“We will follow that up with her and then any charges that are necessary will be coming once we complete our investigation,” Hastings said later Wednesday. “She said he didn't, he said he did, that's something we’ve got to work out.”
April 9 was in the final weeks of this year’s regular legislative session.
Asked what he was doing in the vicinity of the hotel at that time on that night, Biviano replied that it was “my own business.”
Biviano is a first-term House member who was elected by his colleagues to serve as chairman of the freshman caucus. He defeated Democrat Rep. Monty Betts of Searcy in the November 2010 election by 166 votes.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 05/19/2011