Buying a vehicle that may have been involved in a hit-and-run

Question

I was interested in buying a truck from someone in Kentucky, USA. A friend said he heard the person selling it had performed a hit-and-run about a month earlier. No one was hurt, but police were looking for the perpetrator. Apparently no one got a licence plate number, only a description of the truck. It was pretty obvious the truck had hit something.

Suppose I bought the truck. Would I be responsible for the hit-and-run if they ever found out exactly who did it? I did speak to the police, that I thought I knew who it was, but they didn't care at all.

Answer 1

The Kentucky restriction against "hit and run" is KRS 189.580, which says that

The operator of any vehicle, whose vehicle…is involved in an accident …shall immediately stop and ascertain the extent of the injury or damage and render reasonable assistance

Notice that the legal requirement is for the operator to do something: the law requires nothing of the vehicle itself. Supposing that you are correct that the vehicle was operated by someone who hit and ran, then if the police gain suspicions that such is the case, and if those suspicions are reasonable, then then could obtain a warrant to obtain evidence from the vehicle, which could be used against the operator. The fact that you (might) now own the vehicle would not transfer legal responsibility to you – responsibbility goes with the actor, not the instrument.

Answer 2

One risk you might not have considered: If any law enforcement agency ever decides that the truck might have been involved in a serious crime, then they could obtain a warrant to seize it as evidence. Whoever owns the truck at that point could be deprived of its use for an indefinite period.