The report from the officers that arrived at the scene of a given accident offers clues, regarding how or why that same incident happened to take place, The victim has the right to seek a copy of that police report, and to challenge any unverified information.
What is in the report?
In such reports, it is usually the details about the collision:
• The date, time and location of that specific incident
• Statements made by those involved, and those made by any witnesses
• The officers’ observations
What information should the victim make a point of checking?
• The names and the associated contact information
• Details on road condition
• Direction in which each driver was said to be moving
• Mention of any debris that was located at the accident site
• Location of any traffic sign or traffic signal
• Any mention of a potential hazard
How could any victims request a change in the report’s contents?
Submit to the police station the nature of the incorrect information, and indicate what fact or facts should have appeared, in place of the ones that were reported.
How could victim go after a copy of the police report?
• Ask officer for receipt or retrieval number for the report
• Make note of the officer’s name
• Give the receipt of retrieval number to the police station from which the arriving officers had come, or give the officer’s name to the same station.
• Be ready to pay the requested fee.
To what extent might the police report support the allegations in the victim’s personal injury claim?
The police report could verify or refute any mention of a traffic sign or traffic light. It could verify or refute claims about the direction in which each driver was headed, prior to the collision. The location of any debris might support, or offer reason for questioning a statement about the force of the impact.
The nature of the debris might suggest that one of the involved drivers had been distracted by performance of a certain activity, prior to the collision. The location of the damaged vehicles might support, or offer reason for questioning the nature of the impact. Any evidence that the victim had not been wearing a seat belt could weaken the victim’s claim.
Personal injury lawyer in Edmonton knows that any mention of a potential hazard might be used to support a claim by either driver that the car’s movement had represented an attempt to avoid that same hazard.
What are the limits on how a lawyer might use the police report?
Such reports cannot be introduced as evidence in a courtroom. The judge would view the report’s contents as hearsay. Consequently, that same judge would rule against the introduction of any information that had come from a record of what the officers had seen and heard.