I disagree, if the guy tried to commit murder you can bet he will have a lawyer.
RC’s family should not bring a knife to a gun fight.
RC - big thing is it sounds like everyone will be physically fine in the end. Secondly, good luck in the legal world.
Quickest and easiest way to torpedo the putz’s credibility. Comes in handy if/when things get to court.
It could potentially rise to some level of assault. I’m going to speculate because that’s what everybody in this thread is doing. The Toyota comes up behind a “slow” moving truck. “Slow” relative to the car. Probably at or just under the speed limit. The Toyota follows too closely for some distance and then decides to pass. The cussing may have already started before the first pass attempt. The Toyota moves left with or without a turn signal and the truck does also. Plenty of cussing commences. The Toyota continues following way too closely. Likely left of center trying to see around the truck to make another attempt at passing. The driver in the truck moves left of center to block the view of the Toyota. Serious cussing ensues in both vehicles. The truck driver intends to signal to the Toyota that he is not going to be passed on the left. He does this by moving well left of center of an unmarked road. After an unknown time the Toyota driver hits the gas and attempts to pass on the right. The driver of the truck sees this and moves right to block. The driver in the truck was not expecting somebody to attempt to pass on the right. The driver in the Toyota was not aware that passing on the right was illegal. And at this point in time wouldn’t care even if it was known. More cussing ensues in both both vehicles. I kind of doubt that the driver in the truck intended to force the Toyota off the road. He was likely simply trying to keep the Toyota behind him. It happened fast. The driver in the Toyota figured if she could get a nose up beyond the rear bumper the truck would not move over. Regardless of what the police charge either party with, it would still require a prosecutor to take it further. The video likely shows erratic aggressive moves by the driver of the truck. But it also shows somewhat aggressive driving by the driver of the Toyota. And as we already know without seeing or hearing it plenty of cussing. I don’t think it ends up with assault charges brought by the prosecutor. In the end you have two aggressive drivers that miscalculated the other drivers moves.
The right of way is a set of guidelines to help all of us navigate. All drivers have a duty to attempt to avoid collisions. Neither of these drivers fully understand this concept. And plenty of posters in this thread don’t understand it either.
If the other party knows that there is dashcam footage, it's not because of anything said at the scene of the incident.
None of us have told the other party about the dashcam, unless the other party is on BLF and reads this thread.
Creating this thread maybe wasn't the best idea, but I read online that if I were to have this thread taken down, that would be much worse.
So far I don't think I have posted anything stupid, and I have received some great advice in this thread, so I hope it'll all be okay. 
The other driver recognized our car and I think he knew it was my sister driving.
Remember that the other driver has a friend that doesn't like my sister.
The other driver was driving somewhat wildly, but I was told that the other driver was not on drugs or alcohol.
He didn't hit our car all that hard because he was doing a pit maneuver and you don't have to hit another car very hard to do that.
Based on the video, I'd say that he clearly did it intentionally.
The dash cam is not going to show the side hit. Was there any paint on your sister’s car from the truck?
The dash cam shows the results of the pit maneuver spectacularly.
Yes, there is paint on our car from the truck.
By the way, our car is totaled.
We'll be getting a good chunk of change for the car because used car prices right now are very high.
My mom is thinking about getting a used Scion xB.
I want a used Toyota Prius, and am willing to loan her the money so that we can get it.
My mom and I cannot afford a Toyota RAV4 prime, which is an electric vehicle that starts at about $40,000, but that would be my dream car because it's made by Toyota and it's an electric.
The Scion is made by Toyota as well, but it might not be as reliable as our old Toyota Corolla.
...
Also, my niece and sister have bruises now that were not there on the day of the collision.
That is very normal for car collisions.
I think that they will be okay, but I cannot see into the future. 
All the best for your sister and niece - but actually I don’t understand why people overtake on narrow streets in residential areas. This causes inherent danger for other people, especially children.
It's usually perfectly safe if the other driver doesn't intentionally run you off the road and intentionally do a pit maneuver on you.
There's was plenty of room for my sister to pass the other driver.
Remember, this was not an "accident."
The other driver has an unwarranted vendetta against my sister.
A pit maneuver would involve some portion of the trucks right front tire or farther forward to the bumper making contact with the left rear tire or farther back towards the bumper of the Toyota. That would mean the Toyota was 3/4 of the way or more past the truck at impact. If the Toyota was not at least halfway in front of the truck at impact you cannot call it a pit maneuver.
That is correct, and that is exactly what happened.
Trust me, I know what a pit maneuver is.
I don't drive, but I watch the news everyday, and on the news they show people how to do a pit maneuver every year or two.
The prosecutor might not like members of the public doing pit maneuvers.
Yep, especially if done for no good reason or if done maliciously. 
Every now and then, I've been googling
car crash palm desert
and the incident hasn't shown up.
That's probably a good thing, but it's a bit strange.
I mean, I saw the local NBC news photographer at the scene of the incident taking photos/video of our wrecked car on its side.
Without blood or serious charges it’s not really newsworthy. If serious charges come then they still have the footage.
Yep, I agree, but I thought the news would at least mention it somewhere online.
The car was totaled, afterall.
I think I talked my mom into getting a Prius.
We'll have to see if our mechanic can find us a deal on a used one.
We have a mechanic that we think is actually honest, and he's good at finding used cars at reasonable prices.
On the advice of my attorney, I have nothing to say.