If you have an Accident. Advice to new drivers.

And no one can help you if it shows you texted or where on the phone seconds or even minutes before it happened.

 

Do not use your cell phone for accident pics, ever. Attorneys can and will subpoena the WHOLE phone for their records and any pics, messages, calls. ever taken with it, or uploaded, ever. Buy a disposable camera for 5$.

 

How is it that the phone "becomes evidence"?? Except in a case where you capture pictures of LEOs doing something illegal or immoral (which happens more and more each day), all the phone is is a recording device, and unless the phone turned itself into a Transformer and tripped the car milliseconds before the wreck, it canNOT be considered "evidence" of anything. And if LEOs want pictures, they need to get their own cameras.

I have to dispute this... It just doesn't make sense, unless you have a LEO trying to cover something up...

 

We need to get an attorney to weigh in on this. I know that LEOs cannot confiscate a camera or camera phone that is recording any LEOs doing anything; based on that (and the associated case law--don't ask me to quote it, I can't remember it), it seems to me that neither can LEOs confiscate a camera phone, nor can a lawyer subpoena the camera phone, only the recording that came from it.

Yes, we need an attorney to help us with this...




EDIT: If LEOs can confiscate a cellphone, they can confiscate the disposable camera you buy or the company provides, removing the pictures from your/company's possession, perhaps indefinitely. They can't touch a photographer taking pics, they can just ask nicely for copies of said pics.


Google is my friend: http://www.krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf

 

It becomes evidence the same way any other pictures become evidence in the case of an accident. What do you think they take into court to prove that driver A did such and thus if not pictures of skid marks, the damage to the vehicles, the position of the vehicles immediately following the accident, etc.? If you take those pictures with your cellphone, the cellphone becomes evidence, and anything on the phone can be used against you, including texts, pictures, posts you've made on FB using the phone, etc. Call your company's safety department and ask them, if you don't believe me. Never ever take accident scene pictures with your cellphone, if you get into a wreck while driving your truck. Most companies include a disposable camera as part of the accident kit they put in every truck.

 

Also after an accident and you are suspected of a DUI, you can request that the cops present a warrant for the blood test to happen.
You are legally entitled to such a request. The cops maybe crafty and have them prepared beforehand, or the judge may be on call. so it's always good to consult a lawyer. Know your rights.
And if you think I'm wrong, then think again. It'd a Supreme Court ruling. Juries and courts are becoming very uneasy about warrant less tests such as these.
It's just like searching your property....aka your body.
They have to produce a warrant...
But again, they may trick you into doing it without.
I know what I would do....
good hunting.

 

Then that disposable camera should be confiscated as well, by your logic. One constitutional lawyer believes that it is definitely against the law for ANY law enforcement to confiscate your phone or camera because you took pictures--in other words, they can't stop you from taking said pictures, and they can't take your phone without a warrant.

More discussion, including a couple court rulings that uphold the 4th Amendment, and a person's right to not be subjected to unwarranted search and seizure.

Bottom line is: I think it's fine to take pics or vids with your cellphone. If the cops ask nicely, email the pics to them. If they try to push you around and just seize your personal property without just cause, you have the right to refuse. Just have that lawyer on speed dial.

 

In the case of a sobriety test: you have every right in every state to request a blood test over a breathalyzer; and, given how the breathalyzer can be wrong, the blood test is the best way to go. Period.

 

I can't do that anymore...

.... butt dialed him a few times and got an unbelievable invoice from him.