After being involved in a motor vehicle accident, holding the liable party accountable should be one of your top priorities. Your North Charleston car accident lawyer with Shelly Leeke Law Firm will be by your side every step of the way to help you navigate the claims process. When going through the evidence you have obtained, you may notice that there are some mistakes in your copy of the police report that was filed immediately after the collision.
This may cause you to immediately panic and worry about whether the police report can still be used to support your case. Our first step will be to make the necessary changes so we can continue to use the police report to prove the defendant’s liability for your damages. Here is more about how we can go about making these changes as soon as possible.
What You Can Do to Fix a Mistake in Your Car Accident Report
When you have a South Carolina personal injury attorney handling your car accident claim, you can focus on your healing journey while we work on building your claim against those responsible for your collision. You do not necessarily need to request copies of the police report or provide your legal representative with this information, as we can obtain it on your behalf while you are recuperating. However, if you want to be as involved as possible, there are some things you can do to fix mistakes in your car accident report.
Review the Car Accident Police Report
If you have not yet requested a copy of your car accident police report, now is the time to do so. You should be able to reach out to your local police department or the state police, depending on who responded to the collision. Once you have obtained a copy of the police report, it is time to do a comprehensive review.
You will want to read the report line by line to see if there are any inaccurate statements or information. Different police departments may have different policies and instructions for modifying car accident reports. If the local police department does not have this information, be sure to inform your South Carolina catastrophic injury attorney with Shelly Leeke Law Firm.
Actionable Steps to Correct These Mistakes
Mistakes in your police report could have a serious impact on your ability to recover compensation. We need actionable steps you can take to address these issues and ensure your police report is completely accurate. Here are some of the ways you can correct issues in your car accident report:
- Provide the responding officer or police department with copies of your physician’s statements, medical records, or prescription medications that could have affected you at the time of the accident.
- Ensure law enforcement officials have the right information, especially when it comes to a witness’s written testimony.
- Provide the police with a written personal account of how the accident occurred, complete with photos, so you can attach your statement to the police report.
- Make a note of the sections or statements that need to be corrected.
If you have taken these steps, do not forget to file a written request for the police officer to accommodate your modification request. You should ask the responding officer to provide a written response once they have had a chance to review the inaccuracies in your crash report. In the meantime, refrain from posting about the accident on social media, do not accept responsibility for causing the collision, and do not be afraid to ask to speak with the responding officer’s supervisor if they fail to cooperate with your request.
Why Would Your Car Accident Police Report Need to Be Changed?
It is more common than you might think for car accident police reports to need modifications. Even though there may be issues with your original accident report, it is important to obtain a copy of the original report as soon as possible after the collision. This way, you can review the details and identify potential issues.
Sometimes, mistakes are as small as the police officer checking the wrong box on the police report. Other times, issues may be more glaring, which often occurs if law enforcement officials have improperly analyzed certain types of evidence at the scene. The good news is that when mistakes are made, they can be addressed.
While the police report itself will not prove the defendant’s liability, the information it contains can help support your case against them. We will likely be calling on the responding officers to testify on your behalf at trial, but their testimony will tie into the information that is contained in your report. For this reason, we need to address any discrepancies and get new copies of the corrected versions of your police report on the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles’ Request for Copy Collision Report Form FR-50 to include as evidence in your case.
Can a Police Report Be Changed After an Accident?
If you were worried that the police would not be willing to make changes to your crash report, you can breathe easier. When we present law enforcement officials with the correct information, they will usually be more than willing to make these adjustments as long as we have the information and evidence to support our claims. Our team can connect with the responding officer to make these changes on your behalf.
Speak with a Respected South Carolina Car Accident Attorney Today
If responding officers drew inaccurate conclusions about how the accident occurred, included conflicting information in your car accident police report, or misrepresented evidence at the accident scene, your detailed report may have more flaws than you were expecting. We do not need to toss out the police report altogether. By making the necessary corrections to the police report, we can still use it as evidence to prove the defendant is responsible for the collision you were involved in and the injuries you sustained.
Your trial-proven South Carolina personal injury lawyer from Shelly Leeke Law Firm can guide you through this process and take over every legal detail on your behalf. Let’s meet for a no-cost, risk-free consultation today. When you fill out our online contact form or call our office to schedule yours, you can look forward to partnering with a powerful law firm that will work tirelessly as your legal advocate.
