If you get in a car wreck, that can shake you up in the immediate aftermath. You might find that you have PTSD afterward. You may need to take weeks or even months to fully recover, not just physically, but also emotionally and psychologically.
You might also find that you want to sue the other driver. For instance, if you’re in an at-fault state, you feel they caused the accident, and they won’t admit it, then proving their guilt in court becomes the only way you can recoup the money you lost.
If the crash happened there, then Ocala, FL accident reports might become your secret weapon in court. However, you may not understand yet quite how that works. We will discuss it in detail in the following article.
Why Do Police Car Accident Reports Exist?
First, let’s briefly discuss why police car accident reports exist. When you get in a car wreck, the law requires that you stay on the scene. You can’t drive away without first talking to the police.
The police need to write a summation because they have to report on anything of this nature that happens in the territory they patrol. The cops may grumble about having to fill out one of these reports, but its part of their job. By doing so, they’re creating a physical record that will detail much of the information about the crash that either driver might find useful later.
The report will include things like your name and the other driver’s name. It will feature both of your license plate numbers, driver’s license numbers, and the names of your insurance companies, assuming you both have insurance. There’s quite a bit more that the report will probably include as well.
How Can You Get One?
If you stay on the scene and talk to the police when they arrive, they should give you a copy of the accident report when you’re wrapping up your interview. You will want to hang onto that report. You might not know yet whether you want to sue the other driver, but you will want that report for when you contact your insurance company.
However, if it so happens that you never got a police car accident report, or you lost it, then you can usually contact the police station in the jurisdiction where the crash occurred. They will normally give you an additional copy for a nominal fee.
You can usually get the cops to mail you one if you like. You can also go to the station in person to get a copy if that’s easier or more convenient.
The Report May Disprove What the Other Driver Says
Let’s say that you determine after the crash that you want to sue the other driver. You’re sure they caused the accident, and you have outstanding medical bills. You might also have some lost wages if you had to miss work, and you might need to try to recoup the cost of repairing your car as well.
On top of that, you may want to try to collect non-economic damages. Those might include money for your pain and suffering or for loss of consortium.
If you hire a personal injury lawyer, then they will need to inform the other driver that you’re suing them. At that point, you will enter the part of the pre-trial phase called discovery.
During discovery, you might provide a copy of the police car accident report, as well as any other physical evidence that you plan to use at trial. However, you have no way of knowing how closely the other driver or their lawyer might read that report.
If the other driver refuses to extend a settlement offer, then you will continue to trial. It’s then that you might use the police car accident report in ways that the other driver might not anticipate.
For instance, they might claim that the weather that day made the roads slick, and they skidded into your car because of that. However, the accident report might reveal that the crash happened on a sunny day without a cloud in sight.
The report might reveal that the crash happened after the sun went down. That might sink the other driver as well if they claimed that the sun got in their eyes, and that’s why they ran into you.
The report might have all kinds of other information that you can turn against the other driver if they lied about how the crash happened. The position of the vehicles at the scene that the responding officer reported might also convince the jury that the other driver didn’t describe the events of that day truthfully.
They Don’t Feature a Police Officer’s Personal Opinion
While you can often use the police car accident report at trial to your advantage, you should remember one thing about it. It should feature the facts at the scene as the responding officer saw them. However, it will probably not mention any opinion about who caused the accident.
That’s because determining who caused the accident does not fall into the officer’s purview. They’re merely there to jot down the facts as they see them without any additional speculation.
You Can Sometimes Force a Settlement Offer with an Accident Report
In many instances, if the police car accident report reveals information that’s damning for the other driver, then they may feel that they have no choice but to extend a settlement offer. They might not want to do it, but their lawyer will probably recommend it if they see the case going against their client.
That might conclude the trial if you accept the settlement offer. If you don’t feel that the defendant offered you enough money, then you can always counter.
The police car accident report might not represent the final or most crucial piece of evidence in these kinds of lawsuit, but is can definitely help you.
