Today’s topic is going to be car accidents and police reports. Even if you’ve never been in a car accident before, you may have heard of a police report.
What is a police report? #
It’s actually a report generated by a police officer who shows up at the scene of an accident.
In the same, he’s going to have some facts, date, time, location of the accident, and sone of his opinion asked what happen in the accident.
How do I get a police report? #
At the scene of the accident, you will get, it’s called, accidental funeral card, which will have the police report number on it.
One way to get it is to contact the police station, responsible for that police report, and order the same.
It usually takes a couple of weeks to get it and cost 6 to 20-30 bucks.
The other way to get it is, if you file the insurance claim, you can ask your insurance adjuster to send you a copy of the police report.
What is the content of the police report? #
As I mentioned previously, it’s got fact, and it’s got some opinion.
The facts would be, time, date, location, identifying information; name, phone number, address, insurance information…
Some of it will be the narrative of the police officer as to, what he found out one he talked to all parties involved.
What he found out talking to the witnesses to the police report. Sometimes you hoping that if the witness stayed at the scene, the police officer will have it in his police report.
However, I’ve seen it, not be the case. If you’re able to make sure you get the witness information at the scene of the accident.
As I mentioned, fact vs opinion. Facts are basically, as I said location, time, date, etc.
The opinion is determination od the police officer as to what happened in the accident.
How does the insurance company use the police report? #
It’s got a lot of identifying information and the first thing that insurance companies want to do once the accident happens is to get their hand on the police report and start contacting all parties involved, cause they want to get recorded statement from them.
Why do they want to do that even if it is all in the police report? #
The question is the admissibility in court. Facts are admissible in court, but opinions are not.
The police report got a lot of opinion from the police officer and therefore generally it’s not admissible to let’s assume prove guilt.
The police officer in his police report said you are at-fault therefore that’s the case, you can’t use it for that purpose here in Missouri.
That’s kind what you get from the police report after a car accident. If you have any other questions for me, call me at 314-352-6800. Thank you!
Bajric & Ramic Law Office
Nedim Ramic – Auto Accident Lawyer – Personal Injury Attorney
