When The Cops Get It Wrong; Investigating Your Client's Case

The above video is somewhat tangential to this week's Bulletin topic but it does describe a trend that will certainly be used and useful in future vehicular accidents - the car black box. For our below article, however, we stick to old fashioned ground pounding to uncover the true facts of a real accident puzzler.

Generally, most private investigators enjoy and prefer to maintain, good relationships with law enforcement; especially considering that the majority of us come from an l.e. background. Regardless of current or past affiliations, however, a good investigator is a fact-finder first.

We recently ran into a quirky situation involving the police with a hit and run of a pedestrian in mid Manhattan. The actions of law enforcement from the date and time of the accident to this day are puzzling.

A male pedestrian was struck, while crossing the roadway, traveling with the light and within the crosswalk, by first a bus and then a Jeep. A large crowd gathered. The pedestrian suffered severely crushed legs - injuries consistent with being struck by two vehicles back to back. The bus took off (hence the hit and run designation) but the Jeep and its driver remained on scene - for a while. The Jeep driver was questioned by police and told to leave the scene as there was no eyewitness to the Jeep having struck the pedestrian. And no note of the plate number was made by police on the scene.

The first place to start is the precinct of jurisdiction. Pick up the Police Accident Report (the PAR). A PAR is sequentially numbered so its number should fall into place around the date of accident. The PAR should contain def. vehicle, driver and witness information. This PAR contained none of those and the matter was simply designated a "Hit and Run".

Our investigators felt there had to be more to the story than a simple leaving the scene. This is a residential area of Manhattan, with all of those people moving about their daily lives, someone had to have seen something.

We decided to make a flyer of the victim's case (the victim and attorney's permission of course). We Photoshopped the victim's photo into a flyer we distributed liberally throughout the neighborhood. Literally, within 18 hours, we had a video of the victim being struck by a bus and email giving us the Jeep's plate number. The victim's attorneys are now processing the claim with this information.

I guess it all comes down to something I have said to each BNI investigator, regardless of experience - know the rules but always trust your gut instinct. It will lead you to where you need to go. The function of a good investigator is to find the facts that will help with victim, even if the odds are stacked against recovering this information.

BNI Investigators: Street Smart: Web Savvy.

Be safe,

Lina

Witness Statement Checklist (for MVAs)

Witness Statement Checklist (Updated each winter)

Witness statements; seem simple enough. The attorney needs the incident/accident details; recorded in an accurate and concise manner. Often, however, it is the experience of both the seasoned accident investigator and the harried trial lawyer to have obtained a witness statement (usually out in the field) only to realize later that it is not as comprehensive as he or she would have liked. Especially in multi-vehicle accidents with serious/fatal injuries (as in the above vid), the investigator needs to be extremely thorough.

BNI's founders sought to alleviate this concern for attorneys and conducted an in-depth review of witness statements obtained over the course of its decade in the private investigation field. After a careful study, we've created incident-appropriate Witness Statement Checklists for the investigative and trial law professional. This week, we've attached a Witness Statement Checklist relating to motor vehicle accidents.

WITNESS STATEMENT CHECKLIST (MVA)
This checklist contains items that must be addressed for a witness statement to be considered complete. One checklist per involved vehicle.

1. WITNESS PEDIGREE (to include name, address, phone # (home, cell, work,) DOB, SSN,employment/scholastic and licensed driver info, and email addresses.

2. WEATHER CONDITIONS (including possible glare)

3. LIGHTING CONDITIONS

4. SURFACE CONDITIONS (roadways, shoulders...)

5. DEBRIS/CONSTRUCTION PRESENT

6. DESCRIPTION OF ROADWAY (# of lanes, travel direction, divider present...)

7. SIGN DEVICES/PRESENCE OF TRAFFIC AGENT

8. DIRECTION OF TRAVEL OF PARTICIPANTS (drivers/pedestrians...)

9. DESCRIPTION OF ACCIDENT (detailed)

10. ALCOHOL/DRUG INVOLVEMENT

11. WHERE WAS THE DRIVER GOING?

12. RATE OF SPEED

13. FORCE OF IMPACT

14. DAMAGE TO VEHICLE (detailed)

15. POSITION OF OCCUPANTS

16. OBSERVABLE INJURIES SUSTAINED (detailed)

17. MEDICAL ATTENTION RECEIVED AT SCENE

18. EMERGENCY/OFFICIAL VEHICLE AND PERSONNEL RESPONSE

19. POSITION OF VEHICLE AFTER IMPACT

20. SUMMONSES ISSUED

21. STATEMENT(S) MADE AT SCENE

22. ADDITIONAL WITNESSES

23. WAS THE VEHICLE TOWED?

BNI Operatives: Street smart: Net savvy.

To all who have, and those that continue to, serve, our thoughts are with you this Veteran's Day,

Stay Safe,

Lina