How a St. Louis Car Accident Attorney Can Help You Collect Witness Statements

Gathering accident witness statements is an important part of building a strong case after a St. Louis car accident.

If you’ve been injured in a car accident, don’t hesitate to contact an experienced attorney who can help you with this process.

Here’s how an attorney can help you collect witness statements:

Locate Witnesses

The first step in collecting witness statements is finding witnesses. This can be tricky, especially if the accident occurred in a busy area. People may have scattered after the accident and may be difficult to track down. An experienced attorney can help you locate witnesses and will have the resources to track them down if they’re not easy to find. 

Evaluate Witnesses 

Once you’ve located potential witnesses, it’s important to evaluate them to determine if their statements will be helpful to your case. An experienced St. Louis car accident attorney will know how to evaluate witnesses properly and will also be able to run background checks to ensure that they’re credible and unbiased.

Interview Potential Witnesses

Once you’ve located and evaluated potential witnesses, it’s time to interview them. This is where an experienced attorney can be especially helpful. They’ll know the right questions to elicit detailed responses about what the witness saw before, during, and after the accident. Interviews can generally be done in person, over the phone, or even via email or text message if necessary.

Look For Inconsistencies in the Statements  

Once you have collected all of the witness statements, your attorney will review them for inconsistencies. This is important because it will allow you to see if there are any discrepancies between what different witnesses say happened. If there are inconsistencies, this could mean that some of the witnesses are not telling the truth about what they saw. 

An experienced attorney will also help you review the insurance company’s statements and pinpoint any inconsistencies. 

Utilize Security Cameras

In some cases, security cameras may have captured footage of the accident. An experienced attorney will know how to obtain this footage and may use it as evidence in your case.

Preserve Witness Statements 

Like any other evidence, witness statements must be handled with care to maintain their integrity and protect the interests of justice. One of the most important ways an attorney can preserve witness testimony is by ensuring that their statement is captured in writing. This can be done either through a direct request from the attorney or through formal recording methods such as a video or audio recording. 

Additionally, an attorney may request a sworn statement from the witness. This involves administering an oath or signing a legally-binding document verifying that the testimony is truthful and accurate. Finally, in some cases, it may be necessary to issue a subpoena compelling the witness to testify in court or provide written deposition testimony regarding what they saw or heard. 

Collecting witness statements can be crucial in receiving compensation for your injuries after a St. Louis car accident. An attorney can help navigate the witness-statement-collection process so you can get the best possible results for your case.

St. Louis Car Accident Lawyer

If you were injured in a St. Louis car accident and need help pursuing your claim, The Hoffman Law Firm can help. Our St. Louis car accident lawyer can help collect witness statements and other supporting evidence to pursue compensation. Give us a call 24/7 for a free case evaluation.