ABSTRACT
Very often the reconstructionist will not be called upon until the passage of time from the occurrence of the accident that is measured not in days, weeks, or even months, but years. By that time, all of the volatile evidence will have disappeared. Cars may have been repaired or sent to the crusher, the road may have been repaved, tire marks will have disappeared, fluid spills will have washed or worn away, debris will have been removed, signs may have been moved, foliage will have grown or been cut down, and so forth. But perhaps someone took pictures. Maybe bystanders or newspaper photographers or insurance investigators or parties to a lawsuit took pictures that are unearthed during the discovery process. Perhaps police agencies took photographs, in which case there is often an indication of such in the written police report. (Although police photographs have been known to “not turn out,” disappear, or even mysteriously re-appear at the time of trial.)
A word about newspaper photographs: Generally, news media will not provide copies of photographs or videos without a subpoena, and even then, they will only produce materials that have already been published or broadcast. Therefore, it is a job for the attorneys to see whether such materials exist, and attempt to acquire copies. Reconstructionists should be aware that cameras and lenses used by news media can be expected to go far beyond what is available to police agencies or other nonprofessional photographers. Since bystanders are usually kept at a distance at the accident scene, it should not be surprising to find the media using very long lenses.
