Section 2141 | CALCRIM (Jury Instructions)

You may not find the defendant guilty unless all of you agree that the
People have proved that the defendant failed to perform at least one of
the required duties. You must all agree on which duty the defendant
failed to perform.
[To be involved in a vehicle accident means to be connected with the
accident in a natural or logical manner. It is not necessary for the
driver’s vehicle to collide with another vehicle or person.]
[When providing his or her name and address, the driver is required to
identify himself or herself as the driver of a vehicle involved in the
accident.]
[A permanent, serious injury is one that permanently impairs the
function or causes the loss of any organ or body part.]
[An accident causes (death/ [or] [permanent, serious] injury) if the
(death/ [or] injury) is the direct, natural, and probable consequence of
the accident and the (death/ [or] injury) would not have happened
without the accident. A natural and probable consequence is one that a
reasonable person would know is likely to happen if nothing unusual
intervenes. In deciding whether a consequence is natural and probable,
consider all the circumstances established by the evidence.]
[There may be more than one cause of (death/ [or] [permanent, serious]
injury). An accident causes (death/ [or] injury) only if it is a substantial
factor in causing the (death/ [or] injury). A substantial factor is more
than a trivial or remote factor. However, it need not be the only factor
that causes the (death/ [or] injury).]
[If the accident caused the defendant to be unconscious or disabled so
that (he/she) was not capable of performing the duties required by law,
then (he/she) did not have to perform those duties at that time.
[However, (he/she) was required to do so as soon as reasonably
possible.]]
New January 2006; Revised August 2006, October 2010, February 2012, March
2019
BENCH NOTES
Instructional Duty
The court has a sua sponte duty to give this instruction defining the elements of the
crime. Give this instruction if the prosecution alleges that the defendant drove the
vehicle. If the prosecution alleges that the defendant was a nondriving owner present
in the vehicle or other passenger in control of the vehicle, give CALCRIM No.
2141, Failure to Perform Duty Following Accident: Death or Injury—Defendant
Nondriving Owner or Passenger in Control.
VEHICLE OFFENSES
CALCRIM No. 2140
171

• The registration number of the vehicle (he/she) (owned/
was a passenger in);
• [AND]
• The name and current residence address of the driver of
the vehicle(;/.)
• <Give following sentence if defendant not owner of vehicle.>
• [[AND]
• The name and current residence address of the owner of
the vehicle if the defendant is not the owner(;/.)]
• <Give following sentence if occupants of defendant’s vehicle
were injured.>
• [AND
• The names and current residence addresses of any
occupants of the defendant’s vehicle who were injured in
the accident(;/.)]
<Give element 5(e) if accident caused death.>
[