Without the Police There, It Can Become a Kind of He Said, She Said Scenario
Video Transcribed: Do you need to call the police after a motor vehicle collision? Hey everybody, Christopher Stevens here, a certified paralegal with the Wirth Law Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma working in personal injury law alongside a Tulsa personal injury attorney. Today we’re going to be discussing whether or not you should call the police after a motor vehicle collision. Today we’re going to present two separate scenarios I’ve had with clients.
The first one, I had the client call the police immediately after the motor vehicle collision. The second, they chose not to. Now, in the first scenario, right after the motor vehicle collision, the client decided to call the police. The police came out, they did a report, drew up a diagram of the scene, pretty straight forward.
In the second scenario, and you’ll see this quite a bit, the other driver might say, “Hey, how about let’s not call the police? You know what, can I just pay you to cash here?” Or, “What can we do to get this solved right now?”
Now, at first, you might be thinking, “Okay, why not? Let’s go ahead and get this resolved now.” But in that second scenario, I had my client do that and the next thing they knew that person was filing a claim against their insurance, putting them at fault.
Well, without the police there, there’s no ref calling balls strikes, anything like that. It was kind of he said, she said scenario. So, in that instance, you’re already behind the eight balls.
The other person may have stepped up first and now you have an entire mess that you’re trying to clean up, whereas in the first scenario you have the police there, he may have taken witness statements and it really just cleans up the scenario as a whole.
I mean, take what you will, but most of the time, in my experience, clients are always better off to at least reach out to the police department. Sometimes they might have more pressing matters and they can’t get there in time, but at least you made that effort. Once again, Christopher Stevens with the Wirth Law Office.
As always, if you find yourself looking for a personal injury attorney in Tulsa in which you need to seek legal help concerning your automobile accident, feel free to contact a Tulsa Automobile Accident Attorney. We can be found at wirthlawoffice.com
