How a Police Officer’s Accident Report Affects Your Car Accident Case?
Regardless of how big or small the car accident is, the first step is to contact a police officer to investigate the accident and build a police report car accident. A car accident lawyer can help you win the car accident industry claim. As for why you need a police officer’s report, you will need the report for your own insurance company to make a claim for vehicle repairs. If you suffered any car accident injuries, and you need to make a property damage claim with the negligent driver’s insurance company, the first thing you’ll need is a police officer’s report. Sometimes, these claims get dragged to the courtroom, and that’s where the car accident attorneys come into play.
Let’s say that you don’t file a claim with any insurance company, you should still call the police as soon as the accident happens for future needs. You may discover dormant physical injuries from the car accident weeks after the car accident. Some symptoms don’t appear right after an accident, so you can strengthen your car accident claims.
Important Information Available in a Car Accident Report
Police officers receive extensive training regarding auto accident assessment and have seen multiple crashes throughout their careers. Their report can include essential information and evidence that can help your accident attorney to show the reason for your injuries and win the car accident injury claim. Some vital information that your car crash injuries report could contain:
- Accident basics: The police report car accident will contain the basics of the accident such as the date, time, and location of the accident. This information can be important to provide what happened.
- Contact Information: The police report for a car accident will include contact information for the driver, whose negligence caused the accident. Your car accident lawyer can use this information to file a car crash injury suit. If there’s a dispute as to how the accident happened, you will want to reach out to a witness of the accident and saw the whole thing happen and can support your version of events. You should collect the information of a witness yourself in case the police officer doesn’t collect that information.
- Driver Statement: To make a police report car accident, the officer will talk to the other driver and you or make a statement as to what happened based on their perspective which will help you make a settlement with the other driver’s insurance company.
- Pictures: A picture speaks a thousand words, depending on the severity of the crash, the police officer may take pictures of the accident scene, and pictures of the vehicle and injuries caused. Car accident claims can be made so much easier with pictures.
How To Use the Information Contained in Police Report?
While the police report isn’t admissible at your trial or other court hearing, they’re still helpful in settling a car accident injury claim. There are 3 primary ways you can use your car accident report:
- Negotiating Your Claim: Insurance companies give a lot of importance to police reports and police officers’ observations of the crime scene. Your car accident attorneys or car accident injury lawyer can use the police report to convince the adjuster of the other driver’s fault.
- Lead to Other Evidence: Your vehicle accident lawyers should have their own investigation of the accident. They can use the police report as a source of information to find other helpful evidence to settle the car accident injury claim. Additionally, if your car accident lawyer seeks car accident legal advice from an expert, they can use the report to re-enact how the accident took place.
- Police Officer Testimony: If your case isn’t settled outside of the court, then your car injury lawyer can ask the police officer to testify on their behalf. His testimony and observation of the accident scene can help in making a final decision.
