Can A Police Report Count As Evidentiary Material?

Sometimes the facts reported by the officers that have come to a crash scene have the ability to provide support to one or more of the involved drivers.

Ways for obtaining and reading what the officer has reported.

Call the non-emergency number at the police department to which the same officer has given his or her report; ask about receiving a copy of that same document. If possible, share the name of the reporting officer, or the date and location of the reported crash. Also, be ready to pay the fee charged to all that seek to utilize that particular service.

Contact the adjuster at the insurance company of the responsible party. Seek permission to obtain a copy of that adjuster’s own copy of the police report.

Report’s role during negotiations

The claimant-lawyer team should study the police report, in order to confirm the veracity of the facts that will be included in the demand letter. The Injury Lawyer in Waterloo for the claimant could get the names of the named witnesses, those that spoke with the arriving officer. The same attorney could then arrange to speak with each of the same witnesses.

If an adjuster at the defendant’s insurance company were to insist that his or her policyholder had not done anything to cause the reported accident, but the claimant had, then the claimant’s lawyer would need to consult the officer’s log/report. The lawyer’s examination would need to focus on finding any fact that could support or refute the adjuster’s claim.

While useful during negotiations, the police report could not be introduced as evidence during a courtroom trial.

Judges refuse to allow the introduction of any statements that have been reported by one or more of the officers that arrived at the scene of an accident. Judges view such statements as hearsay, because none of the arriving officers were present at the time of the collision.

Any evidence shared with the jury must be first-hand evidence. That means that it was seen or heard by the person that has chosen to share that same evidence. Notes taken by an officer, while speaking with a witness would not qualify as first-hand evidence.

Another reason for the judges’ objection to admittance of material from an officer’s log relates to the method used in the courtroom for receiving testimony from any witness. Once that testimony has been given to one of the lawyers present in the courtroom, the attorney for the opposing party has a chance to question the same witness.

Obviously, there would be no way for the jury to hear a cross-examination of the person that shared certain information with a member of the police force. Hence, that same information cannot count as evidence.