Sort of witness to terrible car accident

September 1, 2015 6:04 AM

I was waiting at a light this weekend, and there was a terrible accident between two cars coming from opposite directions in the intersection. It all happened so fast, and there were already people running towards the car that got the brunt of the accident, and a person on the phone calling 911. I learned later that there were actually fatalities, which didn't surprise me because I got a look at the one car, and it was so bad. My question is: the police are asking for anyone who may have witnessed the accident to contact them to give a statement. I, unfortunately, don't seem to even know if I actually saw the moment of impact or not. It's very odd, and I keep wracking my brain trying to remember everything that I saw. Should I come forward, or will I just be a useless witness?
posted by anonymous to Law & Government (18 answers total)

I see no downside to you calling them and saying you were nearby, and let the process go from there. If you can't remember anything useful, that's not exactly the end of the world.
posted by modernnomad at 6:08 AM on September 1, 2015 [10 favorites]

Yes, you should go forward. If you're useless, you're useless. There's no harm in that. Also, you should probably stop wracking your brain as that's probably more likely to help you create false memories than to give you anything accurate. If the police have put people who know about such things on this, they will have a better idea of how to find out what you know/remember without contaminating your memory.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:08 AM on September 1, 2015 [9 favorites]

i would suggest writing down what you remember now. write down all the uncertainties. it is absolutely ok to write down that you do not know something - much better than inventing it over time. then contact the police if you want - it's their job to decide if you are useful or not (not yours!).

i say this because i was once in a similar situation, and i slowly came to realise that i actually didn't have as much of a memory as i had claimed in the report. it was really weird - i came to believe i had invented details, without meaning to. it was a very odd experience, and i think i could have avoided it if i had written things down earlier and been less worried about being "useful".
posted by andrewcooke at 6:08 AM on September 1, 2015 [29 favorites]

Andrewcooke is exactly right. Write everything down, now, date it, and figure out who & where to hand it later. Memory is incredibly malleable -- we're only beginning to appreciate how much -- and so your earliest recollection, written down once, is the best thing you can give.

You may well have noticed something that no one else has. You can't know that, but the sum of all stories is what the investigators need.
posted by Dashy at 6:12 AM on September 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

And -- watch yourself for signs of PTSD. As a witness to something so bad, you're susceptible. Take care.
posted by Dashy at 6:13 AM on September 1, 2015 [4 favorites]

You witnessed the accident, you should come forward--no offense, but the investigators are better qualified to determine whether your information is useful than you are.

(This may not be good advice if you have legal troubles of your own (outstanding warrants, concerns about immigration status, etc.), if you live in a part of the world where police are notoriously corrupt, or if you're just a real, y'know, f-the-police type. If any of those things were the case, though, you probably wouldn't be asking this question.)
posted by box at 6:15 AM on September 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

I would give a statement. I actually used to do accident reconstructions like this for a living for several years. I reviewed thousands of statements from hundreds of accidents to help piece together what happened. You may have a little kernel of knowledge that puts the larger perspective into focus.

Also a lot of times it's good to be able to place which cars or vehicles were where as far as witness statements go. It can help determine sightlines of other witnesses and may place a higher weight on certain statements over others.
posted by sanka at 6:18 AM on September 1, 2015 [7 favorites]

Even if you didn't see anything useful, at least if you come forward they know that "the person waiting at the light heading across the intersection in the grey Toyota" (or whatever) didn't see anything and they can stop looking for that person.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:24 AM on September 1, 2015 [6 favorites]

Another vote for contacting them. They might be looking for something specific you're not even thinking about and won't expect you to reconstruct the entire accident. For example, one driver might have claimed they were dodging a squirrel that ran into the road. Did you notice any squirrels that day? Or if it was sunny or cloudy? Was the pavement wet? Did you happen to see a blue pickup truck drive away after the accident? Etc.

Be sure to take extra care for yourself as you recover from witnessing this accident.
posted by mikepop at 7:03 AM on September 1, 2015

Yes, call them. They know people were there, and if you identify yourself as one of the people there, they will stop wondering why nobody's contacted them. "witness reports were inconclusive" is a different type of report from "no witnesses came forward".
posted by aimedwander at 7:10 AM on September 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

IANAL, but from experience would advise against writing anything down without consulting a lawyer.
posted by achrise at 7:39 AM on September 1, 2015

Yes call them. If nothing else, it helps you to deal with your impressions.

[once a half-lit minibus was zooming past us in the dark in heavy traffic on a narrow road, indulging in a number of risky passing manoeuvres, and vanishing ahead; later we came into a village and there they were, crashed into someone who had come from a side street, not seeing that their puny single headlight was a whole stupid fast-moving bus. It was pretty ugly. As there were enough people to help I drove past not to clutter the area. Pulled off at the next gas station, called the cops, gave them my number and told them that these people had been driving recklessly before and had been almost invisible.
It was then the shaking finally stopped, and I could drive on. Talking about it does help.]
posted by Namlit at 7:40 AM on September 1, 2015

It sucks to say this, but I would not have any interaction with the police, especially local cops, that I was not forced to have.

I see no downside to you calling them and saying you were nearby

Possible downside 1: You have warrants out, maybe that you don't know about, and are jailed for them pending further action. While you are in jail you are at risk of murder by other inmates or even the police.
Possible downside 2: Someone with the same name as you has warrants out and you're jailed overnight/for a few days while they sort this out.
Possible downside 3: They decide you match the description of someone else and jail you while they either sort it out or until they decide you've been punished enough for whatever you did or didn't do that pissed them off.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:22 AM on September 1, 2015

It sucks to say this, but I would not have any interaction with the police, especially local cops, that I was not forced to have.

Except for the fact that by failing to do so based on some pretty remote possibilities, you may be harming someone whose family member was killed in the accident and as a result, now needs compensation or assistance. The possibility of real harm to a real person is a lot more likely than the OP getting jailed on a (hypothetical) warrant, or because of some imagined slight to a police officer, or because he resembles a crime suspect.

I mean, obviously, OP, you'll have to evaluate the potential outcomes and the likelihood of their occurrence. But in this case, assuming you have no outstanding warrants, there really doesn't seem to be too much actual downside to coming forward with what you know. And there is a very real possibility that you could be helping someone by doing so. So you're hesitating only because you don't know if you saw anything useful, then yes, I'd go ahead and call and let them decide whether your information is useful or not.
posted by holborne at 8:50 AM on September 1, 2015 [7 favorites]

Do be aware that as a witness you may end up having to give a statement in court.

I say this not to discourage you but so that you're prepared for a phone call from someone's lawyer half a year later.

I saw a car accident which was followed by assault by one of the drivers. A year or so later, state police showed up at my apartment looking for me. This was because I'd moved without leaving a forwarding address (a marvelous way to decrease junk mail). It frightened my new roommates quite a bit. The defense atty wanted to talk to me because he thought he could persuade me to alter the statement I'd made at the time (about five minutes after the accident and assault) by telling me about things that happened before the accident and assault. He was very, very wrong and I was very, very unimpressed at his tactics.
posted by sciencegeek at 11:40 AM on September 1, 2015

You should call them. And I hesitate to say this so bluntly, but your words suggest to me that you might be experiencing some trauma at what you saw. Contacting them may help you, too.
posted by stormyteal at 12:05 PM on September 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Whether or not you make a statement please be gentle with yourself and talk to someone about the trauma you've experienced (witnessing something like this can be very distressing and not remembering the exact moment is common with trauma (though IANAD etc).

I witnessed an accident and I did not make a statement as I was facing the other direction at the moment of impact (though standing fairly near the pedestrian who was hit) There were other people who saw it and who were coping well with the victims whereas I was a mess and no use at all. I did call the station the next day to ask if they could tell me the fate of the woman hit as I'd been so upset by it and I explained I was quite close but didn't see anything and they were fine with that. I think if I'd been facing that direction I would have given a statement because I might've seen something I didn't realise was relevant. I would contact the police in the situation you describe. All the best to you whatever you decide.
posted by kitten magic at 3:08 PM on September 1, 2015

I was recently the at-fault party in a (thankfully, much less severe than the one you witnessed) car crash. Even in my position, I would prefer that you tell the police what you honestly saw, and don't go any farther than that as to speculation/etc.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 6:16 PM on September 1, 2015