(One) Vehicle Accident in Texas...

trig · #1 05-08-2009, 12:31 PM

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

On 04/21/09 my brother was in an accident. I could explain it but a picture says a thousand words.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...ason/crash.jpg

He was traveling at aprox. 70mph, about to pass a vehicle who was on the off-ramp. The older woman in the car about to exit, swerved back on to the highway, just as the bumper of my brothers car passed her rear bumper. He steered to the right, lost control, hit the barrier and his car rolled one time.

According to him, the woman stopped and said "She was so sorry, she didn't see him there," and told him that she was on the way to a funeral. An off duty fire-fighter (still yet to be ID'd) was there and told my brother to lay in his truck until the ambulance came. The ambulance came, and off went my brother, who was fine minus some scrapes on his shoulder and back.

Fast forward to having zero info until today. We finally got the report, and the woman is a witness on the report. Nothing else. She completely changed the story, the diagram is wrong (bro's car behind her car, no off-ramp), etc.. No one ever asked one question to my brother.

Here is the Investigator's narrative:

Quote:

U1 was S/B in lane 2 of 2. U1 travelled too fast to avoid a collision, swerved to avoid traffic and struck retaining wall. Witness saw U1 in her rearview mirror at a high rate of speed and barely avoid a collision with her.

Note that nowhere on the report is the witness' speed stated.

Before viewing this, I had called on behalf of my brother and talked to a Sgt. in the unit the investigator was in. He basically said that we can come talk to him, and if we somehow proved he was wrong, he would have to jump through hoops to change the now "official" report.

The "witness'" name and phone number are listed on the report, and a 30 second google search took me to her home address, an Assisted Living Apartment complex.

We have a million questions, but I'll start with one. We are going to go to the site of the accident this weekend to attempt to measure and determine my brothers speed based off of the wall contact point, and the stopping point.

If we can somehow prove the same 70mph he thinks he was going, what should our next action be?

TIA.

ecmst12 · #2 05-08-2009, 01:31 PM

The first and ONLY thing that your brother needs to do right now is call his insurance company and give them his version of events. Don't even worry about the police report, it's not good for anything. His insurance company will do their OWN investigation and speak to the other woman. Now, absent another witness who saw her swerve into traffic in front of him, and absent her admitting same, and absent any contact between his and her cars, it will be nearly impossible to prove that she's at fault. But he can try.

trig · #3 05-08-2009, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecmst12

The first and ONLY thing that your brother needs to do right now is call his insurance company and give them his version of events. Don't even worry about the police report, it's not good for anything. His insurance company will do their OWN investigation and speak to the other woman. Now, absent another witness who saw her swerve into traffic in front of him, and absent her admitting same, and absent any contact between his and her cars, it will be nearly impossible to prove that she's at fault. But he can try.

Well he doesn't have full coverage, or medical insurance. He is footing the bill for everything, but he's not sure if the fire-fighter who was there saw or heard anything.

Our hope was the cop would listen to my brothers side, and then call the woman about why she apologized. Had my brother been there to argue his side, we probably wouldn't be where we are now.

I'm working now to try and obtain the 911 call to find more info.

ecmst12 · #4 05-08-2009, 01:41 PM

Well his insurance company should at least be able to find out HER insurance information so that he can attempt to file a claim with them. However he should consider talking to a lawyer before doing anything else. This WILL be a difficult case and he might have a hard time finding one willing to take it on, but if he can, that will definitely take a lot of weight off his shoulders.

Does he know anything about the firefighter? What kind of car he was driving, what company he works for, his name?

trig · #5 05-08-2009, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecmst12

Does he know anything about the firefighter? What kind of car he was driving, what company he works for, his name?

I will have my father (bro is 19, on dads insurance I believe). I understand this is a difficult case, but will we not be the laughing stock of the insurance company if we file a claim against someone marked as a witness?

At this point, we are not 100% the guy was even a real fire fighter (maybe EMS), only that he was wearing the same t-shirt they all do down here, and knew what he was doing. My brother was frantically looking for his phone and the guy came up and had him lay down in the bed of his truck incase he hit his head (Windows were open, brother dragged on the ground as the car rolled).

My brother said it was a silver truck though. Now that I have the report, I'm going to send an e-mail to the local FD's and maybe someone will say they were there.

I assume he left as soon my brother was taken away. Someone besides my brother called 911, though.

Also, any recommendations on Fort Worth, TX lawyers?

ecmst12 · #6 05-08-2009, 02:01 PM

Brother is an adult, he needs to do this for himself. If he's on dad's insurance, then there's no reason he can't call them himself.

We don't offer legal referrals here other then through the "find a lawyer" buttons. Respectable attorneys don't look for clients on message boards.

Emailing the local fire companies is not a bad idea though.

trig · #7 05-08-2009, 02:03 PM

Also, what can we do about the Police officer that did the report? I've done more investigating on this than anyone, and anyone that reads the report would agree that it is full of holes. There is zero info but the completed it and issued a citation based on a woman in a nursing home who said he was going to fast. No mention of her not being on the highway, or going the speed limit.

Obviously we have to go about getting the cops to there job politely, but the Sgt. made it sound like a hassle and a lost cause.

I just don't get it. How do you write a report without talking to anyone actually in the accident, and then issue a citation?

I have already put a disposable camera and a notepad in my car's glovebox. There is no way I will ever rely on anyone else to settle stuff like this for me.