Police Reports Full of Errors

Police Reports Full of Errors by Texas Automobile Accident Attorney Justin A. Hill

Oftentimes, when investigating automobile accidents, it is important to hire a team of experts to reconstruct the accident and determine the specifics of the accident. Sometimes it is also important to hire experts regarding other specifics of the crash such as seatbelt usage, alcohol/drug use, and whether or not a defective tire caused or contributed to the cause of the accident. Experts will, on occasion, make determinations and conclusions that are contrary to the police report. The difference between the expert’s conclusions and the police report can sometimes make or brake a potential case.

While police officers should be revered for the work that they do every day, they do, on occasion, make mistakes. A recent article on The Texas Tribune discusses the prevalence of mistakes in police reports. The need for accuracy in police reports cannot be overstated. The article explains:

As official legal documents, there’s a lot riding on the accuracy of accident reports, which are used to help establish who was at fault in a wreck and whose insurance will shell out for damages and medical bills. Data in the reports also guides transportation policymakers’ decisions about how and where to spend millions of traffic safety dollars. “Pretty much everything on that crash report could impact us in some way,” says Debra Vermillion, the director of safety construction programs and data analysis at the Texas Department of Transportation. Each year, for instance, TxDOT spends more than $130 million on safety construction projects and another $100 million on safety programs like the “Click It or Ticket” campaign, and how those funds are allocated depends largely on information from crash reports, Vermillion says.

This article emphasizes that every accident should be forensically examined by someone with training and expertise to investigate the accident independent of the police report. For example, even though a police report may indicate that an occupant was unbelted, that may not be the case. In a rollover, buckles can unlatch from vertical forces or flying objects can inadvertently unlatch the belt. An expert or investigator, with specialty training, can examine the belt for evidence of loading/friction on the seatbelt webbing and also determine whether the particular belt/buckle have a known defect for unlatching in a rollover. This is one reason that a trained automotive product liability attorney should be involved at the early stages of evaluating an automotive product liability claim.

If someone you know was injured or killed as the result of a potential automotive product liability claim encourage them to immediately contact a competent attorney for advice. It is extremely important to do this quickly to ensure that evidence is preserved, statements are taken, and the rights of all are protected.