ACCIDENT DIAGRAM IN POLICE REPORT WAS NOT BASED ON OFFICER’S FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE; REPORT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ADMITTED IN EVIDENCE; NEW TRIAL ORDERED.
The Second Department determined a new trial was necessary in a pedestrian-accident case because the police report (admitted in evidence included) included a diagram of the accident scene which was not based on the police officer's personal observation:
Information in a police accident report is “admissible as a business record so long as the report is made based upon the officer's personal observations and while carrying out police duties” … . Conversely, information in a police accident report is inadmissible where the information came from witnesses not engaged in the police business in the course of which the memorandum was made, and the information does not qualify under some other hearsay exception … . Here, the diagram contained in the police accident report was not derived from the personal observations of the police officer, who did not witness the subject accident … . In addition, there was insufficient evidence as to the source of the information used to prepare the diagram, whether that person was under a business duty to supply it, or whether some other hearsay exception would render the diagram admissible. The diagram therefore should not have been admitted … . Wynn v Motor Veh. Acc. Indem. Corp., 2016 NY Slip Op 01484, 2nd Dept 3-2-16
NEGLIGENCE (ACCIDENT DIAGRAM IN POLICE REPORT NOT BASED ON OFFICER'S FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE AND SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ADMITTED)/EVIDENCE (NEGLIGENCE, ACCIDENT DIAGRAM IN POLICE REPORT NOT BASED ON OFFICER'S FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE AND SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ADMITTED)/HEEARSAY (NEGLIGENCE, ACCIDENT DIAGRAM IN POLICE REPORT NOT BASED ON OFFICER'S FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE AND SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ADMITTED)