After a collision in Albany, call 911 so officers can make a crash report. Then, in the following days, get that report and give it to our lawyers to review.
Getting police reports for an accident involves contacting the policing agency that responded to a crash. For example, if you were injured during an accident in Albany, you would contact the Albany Police Department to get your report. You might have to wait a few days after the accident for officers to finish the report. After you get it, our lawyers can review the report with you and explain its contents. We can use the report to learn the basic information about the accident, like its date, location, time, and possible contributing factors. Though the report will not be evidence in your lawsuit, getting it is important when building a compensation claim in Albany.
Call Rice, Murtha & Psoras’ Albany, GA personal injury lawyers today for a confidential and free case analysis at (470) 287-3070.
Getting Police Accident Reports for Auto Accidents in Albany, GA
To get a police report for a car crash in Albany, you must contact the Albany Police Department. You can call ahead of time to see if your report is ready to be picked up in person.
Accident reports from the Albany Police Department cost 25 cents per page. There might be extra costs if your report contains additional materials, like photos or videos.
If your accident happened just outside of Albany, in one of the several unincorporated areas of Dougherty County, officers from the Dougherty County Police Department may respond to the scene. Should that happen, you must visit that agency to obtain your report.
It could be a few business days before the report is ready for retrieval. Officers must ensure that accident reports are accurate, as victims often rely on these documents when preparing their claims. If you identify inaccuracies after getting the report, tell our Alpharetta, GA car accident lawyers right away. We can alert law enforcement immediately so that they can amend the report to reflect the facts of the accident. If you wait to do this and the other driver has already obtained the report, they might fight against changing it.
When you get to the police station, be prepared to identify yourself as a party involved in the accident. You may need to give your name and driver’s license number to do this. If you know the report number, you can also give police department staff that information to locate the report.
Reading a Car Accident Report After Getting it in Albany, GA
Once you have the accident report, our lawyers can read it with you and explain its contents. We will also review the report for additional information that could help as we prepare your compensation case in Albany.
Crash reports in Georgia are standard across policing agencies. The top portion of the report contains basic information about the accident, such as the date, time, location, and number of involved vehicles.
The following sections contain information on involved drivers, including their names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and insurance information. The vehicle registration of all involved cars is also included here. If either driver took a drug or alcohol test at the scene, officers will make a note. Officers will also note the condition of both drivers and their vehicles. If either party was taken to the hospital or treated by emergency medical services at the accident scene, that information would be in the report.
On the second page of the report, officers can draw diagrams to indicate what happened. They will write down the first harmful event, the weather and road conditions, the manner of collision, the point of initial contact, the damage to vehicles, and the number of occupants in both cars.
Finally, officers will further explain a victim’s injuries, whether they were ejected from vehicles, were taken for treatment, or used safety equipment like seat belts during the accident.
Using a Car Accident Report from the Police in Albany, GA
When it comes to using the police report, our lawyers will rely on it most heavily in the early stages of case preparation. Though inadmissible in court, the incident report can help us piece together an accident’s events and determine its cause.
While the report itself is inadmissible in court in Georgia, the information it leads us to might be admissible as evidence.
For example, suppose officers note in the report that the point of impact was to the side of the car because the negligent driver T-boned the victim’s vehicle. Based on that information, we can look for evidence that confirms that, such as photos from the accident scene. We can then give photos from the crash site to an accident reconstruction expert, who may confirm the point of impact and other pertinent details, such as the speed at which the negligent driver was traveling.
If police officers speak to eyewitnesses, they may include their names and phone numbers in the remarks section of the crash report. Based on that information, we can contact eyewitnesses and interview them. Eyewitness testimony can confirm our assertions of how the defendant acted negligently and injured you in Albany.
When car accident victims are physically and emotionally recovering from collisions, they may have difficulty remembering exactly what happened. The police report can be used as a reference to fill in the blanks when building the foundational aspects of your case, such as the “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” and “why.” So, though inadmissible in court, victims should still prioritize getting police reports after car accidents.
Call Us About Your Car Crash Claim in Albany, GA Today
Call the Augusta, GA car accident lawyers of Rice, Murtha & Psoras at (470) 287-3070 for help with your case.