To her credit, she was the one who contacted the press. If she had something to hide, she would be attracting attention to herself.
Unfortunately, there isn't any indication that the reporter bothered to dig up the accident report to read statements by the other driver or the witnesses.
So we don't know what the other driver said. We really don't know what the witnesses said. The basics are that she was in an accident that was caused by someone else, and the police think there is basically an unreported victim - that being the phantom driver of her pickup.
To me, this does not rise to the level of a detention. The police should have simply taken all the statements and submitted the case to the District Attorney for a judgement on whether she may have broken any laws.
Agreed. If the DA thinks there is probable cause for a charge of interfering with an investigation against her he could send her a summons. I don't there much risk of a 75 year old woman fleeing in the meantime.
“... Her truck spun around and wound up on the median, with the driver’s door facing the eastbound traffic lanes.”
She wanted to exit her truck onto the median, and not out into traffic. Makes sense to me.
Just because she was hit on the passenger side doesn’t mean the passenger door area was damaged.