Police Body Camera Evidence in Norfolk

As a Virginia personal injury attorney, I pay attention to any new developments in the law and technology that might help me better represent my clients who have been seriously injured in a car, truck or motorcycle accident. In recent cases, I have come to realize just how valuable the lapel camera that officers are starting to wear on their persons can be in cases.

In one recent case where my client got hit by a truck as she was trying to fix a tire on the roadway, the police body cam showed that she did have her flashers on as she indicated. This visual evidence from the police officer first on the scene made a real difference in preventing the insurance company from trying to claim that the flashing lights were not on the disabled vehicle.

I was at a seminar recently where I heard from one of the assistant commonwealth’s attorneys in the City of Norfolk. She was saying that they have a new standing order that they will keep police body camera evidence, including from auto accidents, for 90 days.

If no one has tagged the evidence as needing to be preserved in those 90 days, then the information will be forever lost. Accordingly, it’s important for personal injury attorneys to understand that they need to know the Freedom of Information Act or other requirements to get the police body cam evidence as soon as possible after a wreck with injuries.

This is particularly true in cases like drunk driving cases. In the drunk driving case, the police body cam is going to show the best evidence of just how intoxicated the at-fault driver was. Were they stumbling, speaking with slurred speech, were their eyes bloodshot, etc.? These are the factual issues that you need to prove in order to show that the person was not capable of safely driving because of alcohol. It’s one thing for a police officer to testify about such information. It’s another thing for the jury or insurance company to be able to see with their own eyes just how drunk the person was.

We often say to our potential clients that you need to hire us as soon as possible after an auto accident with injuries. The need to secure evidence like the police body cameras is another reason why that’s true. Sometimes the evidence will become unavailable if it’s not gathered and safeguarded early in the case. If you or a loved one has been hurt in a car accident where the police have come to the scene you should definitely hire Cooper Harley Injury Lawyers as soon as possible so we can make sure to use our experience and knowledge to secure the evidence that might make the difference in getting you full and fair compensation for your injuries.