Jackson sees over 300 hit and runs since start of 2025, police sgt. gives insight

JACKSON, Tenn. — The Jackson Police Department gives us insight on hit and run incidents this year.

The Jackson Police Department reports 302 total hit and run incidents from January 1 to May 12 of 2025. Sergeant Christopher Chilcote with JPD finds that most incidents occur when the driver is not in the vehicle.

“They’re not qualified or quantified in our system as what level of damage, or what level of injury or anything like that. It’s just hit and run of either a vehicle or hit and run of a person. We do have hit and runs where someone is walking in the parking lot, and gets hit and people keep on driving. That has happened–not very often–but it does happen,” said Sgt. Chilcote.

Experts estimate 14% of U.S. drivers lack insurance. That means more than 32 million Americans are uninsured, which is illegal in most states, including here in Tennessee.

“The majority of your hit and runs [are] for this reason. Either, A.) Somebody doesn’t have a license or insurance, B.) They have something else going on, meaning warrants drugs or something like that or, C.) They just didn’t realize they bumped into the vehicle or they did it,” said Sgt. Chilcote.

So how can you be prepared in case it happens to you? A dash cam can relieve you of stress and provides a way for you to watch those around you when you can’t watch for yourself.

Dash cams come in all shapes, sizes and price points. So, before you buy, consider the storage capacity, resolution and quality. Integrated safety features like lane departure and many additional features like GPS, emergency service alerts and radar detectors are also things to take into account.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have the flight cameras everywhere and we don’t have our pole camera’s everywhere, so if somebody has a dash cam that can help capture vital evidence that we need to investigate the case and actually prosecute someone,” said Sgt. Chilcote.

If the hit and run resulted in serious bodily injury to another person, it may be charged as a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to 12 months in jail, a maximum fine of $2,500, and a driver’s license suspension.

If you are able to get the license plate information, that is enough for the police to find out who owns the vehicle and if there is insurance on it.

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