Hi, my name is Matt Eason, and in this video, we will discuss, “do you call the police after a fender bender?”
Please click here to view the video.
When clients come into our office, one of the first concerns they have is that they did or did not call the police after an accident. In this video, we want to discuss some of the merits of calling the police after an accident and particularly after a fender bender.
To understand whether or not you should call the police after an accident really boils down to understanding the police officer’s role after the accident. A police officer is not a judge, not a jury, not an arbitrator of fact. Instead, they will come out and record what they see, what they hear, and what they witness people tell them. They may come to a conclusion, but that conclusion is not binding in court and is not binding on an insurance company. They are merely a fact taker and recorder of information.
With an understanding of the police officer’s role after an accident, the important thing to ask yourself then is, “what benefit would the police officer have to come to the scene?” If the other side is admitting to fault, will give you a statement that they have admitted to fault, will sign something that says they have admitted to fault, or if the pictures just make it abundantly clear they are at fault, then a police officer really is not going to add value coming to the scene because it’s already been established that the other side is at fault.
Conversely, if there is a dispute about liability, such as who had the right of way or who hit who first, then calling the police to come to the scene can be beneficial. The police officer can get a statement from a witness or a statement from the other side as to liability.
The bottom line when it comes to deciding to wait for a police officer to come to the scene or not boils down to the question of “is there going to be a dispute over fault?” If there is, then having a police officer come and record the physical evidence and get statements from people can be very helpful. Alternatively, if there is not a dispute as to fault and you’ve got evidence of such, then waiting for a police officer to come to the scene really does not make a lot of sense.
If you’ve been involved in a car accident and would like to speak to a Sacramento car accident lawyer for a free consultation, I hope you will consider calling our office. You can ask for me personally. My name is Matt Eason, and I’m with the law firm of Eason & Tambornini. We are located at 1234 H Street, Sacramento, California, 95814. Our phone number is 916-438-1819.
