Is it illegal to leave the scene of a car accident in Arizona?

Yes. Arizona law requires every driver involved in a crash to stop at the scene, and the penalties for failing to do so scale sharply with what happened — from a misdemeanor for a fender-bender to a class 2 felony if you caused a death and fled.

The duty to stop applies to every driver, every crash

Under A.R.S. § 28-661, a driver involved in an accident resulting in injury or death must immediately stop at the scene, or as close to it as possible, and then return. A separate statute, A.R.S. § 28-662, imposes the same stop-and-return duty when a crash causes only damage to a vehicle or other property. Neither statute has a "too minor to bother" exception — the duty applies the moment a collision happens on public or private property.

Penalties depend on how badly someone was hurt

Arizona treats leaving the scene of a property-damage crash very differently from leaving the scene of one that hurts or kills someone:

• Property damage only: failing to stop under § 28-662 is a class 1 misdemeanor.
• Injury, but not death or serious injury: a class 5 felony under § 28-661.
• Death or serious physical injury: a class 3 felony — elevated to a class 2 felony, one of Arizona's most serious felony classes short of first-degree murder, if the fleeing driver caused the accident.

A conviction can also mean license revocation on top of any jail or prison sentence: up to five years for a serious-injury crash, up to ten years if someone died.

Stopping isn't the whole duty

A.R.S. § 28-663 adds two more obligations once a driver has stopped: exchange name, address, and vehicle registration information (and show a license on request), and render reasonable assistance to anyone injured — including arranging transport to a hospital if needed. Skipping the information exchange is its own class 1 misdemeanor; failing to render reasonable assistance is a class 6 felony.

Separately, A.R.S. § 28-666 requires a driver involved in an injury or fatal crash to notify police, the county sheriff, or the nearest highway patrol office immediately, by the fastest means available — on top of, not instead of, stopping and exchanging information.

What this means if you were hit by a driver who fled

If the driver who caused your crash didn't stop, Arizona's hit-and-run statutes create criminal exposure for that driver, but a criminal case doesn't pay your medical bills. For that, uninsured motorist coverage is usually the relevant piece: an unidentified driver generally can't be shown to have carried insurance, so UM coverage under your own policy is often what actually compensates you when the at-fault driver is never found.

The criminal case and any civil claim also run on different clocks. Arizona's personal injury statute of limitations gives you two years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit in most cases — a deadline that doesn't pause while police try to identify a hit-and-run driver.

Reporting the crash protects your own claim, too

Calling 911 or a local police non-emergency line at the scene satisfies the reporting duty under § 28-666 and creates the official crash report that insurance adjusters — and any later legal claim — will rely on. Even in a minor crash where no one appears hurt, a police report can matter later if injuries turn out to be more serious than they first seemed.

This article is general legal information, not legal advice. Criminal charges and their classification depend on the specific facts of each case; consult a licensed Arizona attorney about your situation.