Many people overlook the importance of a police report to a car accident case. We always tell our clients that there are three things you need to do immediately after your car accident. The first thing you need to do is call 911. The second thing you need to do is go to the emergency room for medical attention. Finally, the third thing you need to do is call an experienced Atlanta car accident lawyer. As you can see, the very first thing you need to do following your car accident is call the police. This is because they will send a team of officers out to the scene to do a thorough investigation. They will document their findings in their police report.
Your Atlanta injury attorney will need to get a copy of this police report if you have any hope of proving your case. This report contains information crucial to proving your case. Without it, your attorney will be fighting an uphill battle. Rather than put them in this position, it’s better to just call the police and let them do their job.
Here, we’ll discuss some of the important information contained in the police report. We’ll also explain why this information is so helpful to proving your case. If you still have questions about your own car accident, contact our office. We’ll schedule your free, initial consultation. This gives you a chance to sit down with a seasoned Atlanta car accident lawyer who can evaluate your case for free. They can also provide you a bit of guidance on how best to proceed.
The Police Report Will Include Statements Made by the Other Driver
When the police arrive on the scene, they’re going to speak privately with each driver. They’ll take their statements and make copies of their license, registration, and insurance information. They will record each driver’s statement in the police report. The reason this is so important is that, if the defendant changes their story later on, you can introduce the police report as evidence. Not only will this evidence show that they are lying, but it will also provide insight into what really happened.
Without getting into the technical reasons why this statement is so important, just know that it can be crucial to your case. When people are in a car crash, they tend to operate on autopilot. They don’t have enough time to come up with a good story for what happened. They tend to blurt out statements that are, more often than not, true. This can help prove the other driver caused the crash. For example, if the driver told the officer that they didn’t see your car coming from the other direction, it can be used to prove liability. The same is true if the driver says that they had looked away from the road for a couple of seconds and then crashed into the back of your car.
Your Atlanta Car Accident Lawyer Will Need Contact Information for Any Witnesses
When the police arrive at the accident scene, they’re going to see if there are any eyewitnesses. Of course, they’ll get statement from any passengers involved in the crash. However, a passenger is likely going to say anything they can to protect their friend or family member. The officers are going to look for independent eyewitnesses who can corroborate your story (or the other driver’s.)
More important than the statements these witnesses made is the fact that the officer got their contact information. Without this report, your Atlanta car accident lawyer will have no way of knowing who saw the crash. They won’t be able to follow up with these witnesses and see what they know. It may be able to help prove your case if someone saw the defendant acting negligently or recklessly.
The Report Will Describe the Accident Scene and Road Conditions
Even if you take pictures of your vehicle after the crash, you probably won’t record all the pertinent information about the scene. When the cops come to the crash site, they’ll do a thorough inventory of the crash scene and the road conditions. This can help rule out (or in) outside elements or causes for the accident. For example, if the road was icy or snow covered, it may explain why the defendant hit the back of your vehicle. Or, if there are skid marks on the blacktop, it may show that one of the drivers attempted to brake at the time of impact.
The Police Will Document if Any Traffic Tickets or Arrests Were Issued at the Scene
Sometimes, when the cops come to investigate an accident, they issue traffic tickets. On occasion, they even have to arrest one of the drivers for drunk driving. If this happened in your case, the information will be very helpful. Imagine that the other driver was arrested for drunk driving. They were ultimately convicted a couple of months later. Your Atlanta injury attorney can submit a copy of their court records as proof that they were drunk at the time of the crash. This will go a long way toward proving fault and, thereby, getting you the damages you deserve.
Your Atlanta Injury Attorney Needs All the Help They Can Get
When a person is involved in a car accident, it’s critically important that they call the police. When the police get to the scene, they’ll do a thorough investigation of the crash. They’ll get both drivers’ license, registration, and insurance information. In addition, they’ll check to see if either of the drivers are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. This information, along with the other vital information contained in the police report, is extremely valuable to your Atlanta injury attorney.
Whether your case is strong enough to warrant legal action depends on the evidence available. The police report contains a lot of the evidence you’ll need to prove fault. Without it, your Atlanta car accident lawyer will have a very difficult time proving your case. The last thing you want to do is make their job any harder than it already is.
We suggest that you contact our office as soon as possible after your crash. We can schedule your free, initial consultation right over the phone. This gives you a chance to sit down with an experienced attorney who’s handled plenty of cases like yours before. They know how to prove fault and they have years of experience dealing with insurance adjusters.
Since your consultation is free, you have nothing to lose.
