your experience with police reports... do you find them to be accurate?

[spanky]

have you, or someone you know, ever been in an accident and needed a police report? if so, are they usually pretty accurate? my cousin was in a car accident last night (got t-boned while coming out of a jughandle) and unfortunately, he did not make it (R.I.P. ron ). i'm a bit sad and a bit angry, but i am more concerned about his family (parents and siblings, no wife and kids). the detectives say they are investigating what happened, so all we can do is sit back and wait to see what they have determined. to me, there are only two possible situations, becuz either my cousin's 2000 civic si had the right of way, or the F-350 that smashed into him had right of way. i am hesitant to believe that my cousin would run a red coming out of a jughandle that crosses over a major highway. but anyway, back to the police report question.... you thoughts


edit - i need some help saving a streaming video file... any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

depends on the officer doing it, the volume of calls, and the situation. The higher the volume of calls, the less accurate its probably going to be. If the officer is having a bad day, again, less accurate. If the situation is FUBARed, yea, less accurate.

Overall, I would say fairly accurate. Never perfect though.

 

[spanky]

when u say volume of calls... u mean how busy he was that day? this happened at 2am, so i assume that it was not too busy.

 

[Fingolfin269]

I would say that since this accident involved a fatality (sorry for your loss, bro) that the officer will more than likely be sure to get this report right.

 

Originally posted by: spanky
when u say volume of calls... u mean how busy he was that day? this happened at 2am, so i assume that it was not too busy.

Yea, how busy. And you would be surprised what can happen at 2am. I thought the same thing until I did an overnight ride...17 calls that night, and that didn't count the people we pulled over or happened upon a situation. The cop I was riding along with said that was a slow night, so imagine the amount of dispatched calls that might happen on a busy night.

It was a 9pm-7am shift btw.

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
I would say that since this accident involved a fatality (sorry for your loss, bro) that the officer will more than likely be sure to get this report right.

thanx, i hope so. it's kinda wierd right now becuz i'm not crying like everyone else. am i made of stone? i think i am still shocked that he's gone... every once in a while... i feel a twitch on my face as if i want to shed a tear.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: spanky

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
I would say that since this accident involved a fatality (sorry for your loss, bro) that the officer will more than likely be sure to get this report right.

thanx, i hope so. it's kinda wierd right now becuz i'm not crying like everyone else. am i made of stone? i think i am still shocked that he's gone... every once in a while... i feel a twitch on my face as if i want to shed a tear.

Someone always remains as the 'rock'. That's usually the role I end up filling too and it sucks. You'll grieve but it looks like you'll be the one who does it later than the rest. There's nothing wrong with that at all.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: spanky

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
I would say that since this accident involved a fatality (sorry for your loss, bro) that the officer will more than likely be sure to get this report right.

thanx, i hope so. it's kinda wierd right now becuz i'm not crying like everyone else. am i made of stone? i think i am still shocked that he's gone... every once in a while... i feel a twitch on my face as if i want to shed a tear.

It is probably shock. How close were you guys?

Sorry about your loss.

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: spanky

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
I would say that since this accident involved a fatality (sorry for your loss, bro) that the officer will more than likely be sure to get this report right.

thanx, i hope so. it's kinda wierd right now becuz i'm not crying like everyone else. am i made of stone? i think i am still shocked that he's gone... every once in a while... i feel a twitch on my face as if i want to shed a tear.

It is probably shock. How close were you guys?

Sorry about your loss.

it's funny you should ask... right now, i feel like we could never have been close enough. i'll admit tho, that we were not all that close, but it's just the fact that whenever i go over to my cousins' house (three of them live together), i see him. if i go over there now, he won't be there and i'll always have these "what if" questions running rampant in my head.

 

[spanky]

i just noticed one more thing... my cousin left his house last nite at 2am to get a snack, then the accident happened. now as i sit at my desk doing nothing, i see his aim is still signed on. kinda freaky & wierd... almost as if i want to send him a messege just to say goodbye

 

[911paramedic]

Originally posted by: spanky
i just noticed one more thing... my cousin left his house last nite at 2am to get a snack, then the accident happened. now as i sit at my desk doing nothing, i see his aim is still signed on. kinda freaky & wierd... almost as if i want to send him a messege just to say goodbye

Might give you a little closure...

 

[bradruth]

Originally posted by: spanky
when u say volume of calls... u mean how busy he was that day? this happened at 2am, so i assume that it was not too busy.

Like FallenHero said, that's not necessarily true. 10:00 PM to 3:00 AM is our busiest time, so we overlap two shifts to have double the officers on patrol. That said, accident reports are pretty meticulous (for us at least). Not only are incident & accident reports filled out, but the officer must use stencils & draw out the situation surrounding the accident from an over-the-top view.

 

[mugs]

Sorry to hear that. Did they give give the driver of the other car a breathalyzer? I'm not sure that they could possibly determine what happened unless there's a camera at the light, but I'd put good money on the other driver being at fault.

Edit: Where in NJ did this happen?

 

[shopbruin]

when i was in an accident (a car backed into me) the cop didn't take a report even though i had called him.

i wound up having to go to the police station and filing it myself for my insurance who insisted on it. it was pretty darn accurate for someone having been backed into that morning and had to go to class first, taking notes on different pieces of art so that we could write a paper. but it wasn't my fault and the guy admitted it so i didn't mind.

anyways, you are probably still in shock. it might hit you later on though, especially with seeing his SN still on, it makes it feel like he still might just be there. my condolences.

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: mugs
Sorry to hear that. Did they give give the driver of the other car a breathalyzer? I'm not sure that they could possibly determine what happened unless there's a camera at the light, but I'd put good money on the other driver being at fault.

Edit: Where in NJ did this happen?

this happened in edison (rt 1) right in front of menlo mall.

freesia39: thanx bro:beer:

 

[spanky]

bump. i need some help saving a streaming video file... any help would be greatly appreciated.

ps - the driver of the pickup got out of the car and fled the scene on foot. some world we live in huh?

 

[WhiteKnight]

Originally posted by: spanky
bump. i need some help saving a streaming video file... any help would be greatly appreciated.

ps - the driver of the pickup got out of the car and fled the scene on foot. some world we live in huh?

Seems like an odd addition to this thread.

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: WhiteKnight

Seems like an odd addition to this thread.

yeah... just updated a little info and trying to draw some OT attention to my other post in software.

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: WhiteKnight

Originally posted by: spanky
bump. i need some help saving a streaming video file... any help would be greatly appreciated.

ps - the driver of the pickup got out of the car and fled the scene on foot. some world we live in huh?

Seems like an odd addition to this thread.

yeah that's weird!

sorry for your loss spanky.

 

[Drakkon]

in my accident the police report had all been filled out without even taking my statement into account...finally the officer came over to issue me a citation and it had charges about not stopping at a stop sign and not obeying spoeed limit and crap like that...which he all based on skid marks.
Well funny thing was i was in a sedan...skid marks were from a dually vehicle. Once I pointed this out to him he returned back to his vehicle and finally took my statement down about what happend.
So that being said its scarry but whatever the cop thinks happen will be what he puts down on paper and what judges and insurance will go off of. I've seen some pretty messed up ones working as a court clerk at one point in time. I'd say a good 80% of them include some information that is faulty but since they are the police they aren't questioned.

 

[Skiguy411]

Originally posted by: spanky
i just noticed one more thing... my cousin left his house last nite at 2am to get a snack, then the accident happened. now as i sit at my desk doing nothing, i see his aim is still signed on. kinda freaky & wierd... almost as if i want to send him a messege just to say goodbye

I know exactly what you mean. A girl at my school was driving with two of her friends and was making a left turn, but didnt realize she didnt have the right of way. She turned and a truck slamed right into her. Her two friends died but she lived. One of the friends that died had an away message up for like 2 weeks that said shopping with so and so, be back later! I almost cried everytime I saw it. Her parents found out and changed the away message, thanking the people that had been there in support for them.

 

[MacBaine]

Since it was a fatal crash, an accident investigator will be doing the report. The responding officer's report will be limited in what it covers, while the AI's report will be meticulously detailed. Measurements, pictures, debris, tire tracks, yaw marks, etc., will all go into the report.

 

[Twista]

ur link doesnt work for the file. If its windows media type file i could record it..