While not necessarily admissible in court or responsible for assigning fault in car and truck accidents, police reports are still important official documents. As such, they should be complete and accurate to the best of the police and those involved with the accident’s knowledge. It is one of the first places that insurance adjusters look when they are looking to quantify damage and parse through insurance claims. If you looked through the police report from your accident and it is not correct, there are some steps to rectify the situation.
What is in the Police Report?
The police report will contain many important statements, so these must be accurate. These facts include the date, time, and location of the crash; contact information for all drivers and witnesses involved; statements from drivers and witnesses; damage to vehicles; injuries that occurred in the accident; the officer’s narrative of the crash and whether there were any citations issues; pictures of the accident scene; and a diagram if needed.
Steps to Correct Your Report
When you need to correct items in your police report, remember that police officer are humans and sometimes make mistakes. Just be polite in your attitude and approach when you are asking for errors to be edited. Then, make sure to gather all evidence of the correct facts of your accident. This could be your vehicle registration, for instance if the details of your car are incorrect. Make sure you do this quickly, as each passing day that the report is incorrect could cost the insurance adjuster time. It will also be generally easier to get the police to correct. You should also provide full and accurate medical records from injuries treated from the accident. If you are correcting a statement, you should write out your accurate statement. However, it is at the officer’s discretion to change the written statement on the original report.
If you are ever unsure about correcting your police report. You should retain an experienced auto accident attorney to help you through the process.
Contact Herrman & Herrman P.L.L.C. at 361.882.4357
Our firm is equipped with over 100 years of combined experience handling personal injury cases across Texas. Our outstanding record of favorable settlements and verdicts includes over 20,000 successfully resolved cases. Once we take on a case, we are relentless, and you can rely on us to pursue full compensation for you.
- You can trust our attorneys to be compassionate and professional.
- We will fight hard to obtain a fair settlement for you.
- Our firm represents the injured and families who have lost a loved one due to others’ negligent acts.
- We serve as counsel in a range of injury cases – including car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian accidents, premises liability cases, product liability cases, and medical malpractice claims.
- We have the ability to dispatch the Herrman & Herrman Accident Investigative Team to the crash scene to start an investigation and preserve critical evidence.
