How Police Reports Impact Your Car Accident Claim in South Dakota

An officer shows up, asks a few questions, hands you a card, and drives off. Does that report actually matter once your car accident claim gets underway? It does, more than most people realize, and South Dakota treats these reports a little differently than many other states do.

What Actually Goes Into the Report

A police accident report typically documents the basic facts of a crash: the date, time, and location, the vehicles and drivers involved, any citations issued, weather and road conditions, and often a diagram showing how the vehicles collided. Officers may also record statements from drivers and witnesses at the scene, along with their own observations about apparent causes, such as skid marks or vehicle damage patterns. None of this replaces a full investigation, but it creates an early, relatively objective snapshot of what happened before memories start to fade.

Why South Dakota Handles These Reports a Little Differently

Here is something that surprises a lot of people. In some states, police accident reports are treated as confidential records, available only to the people directly involved in the crash. South Dakota takes a different approach. Under SDCL 32-34-13, reports filed under the state’s accident reporting statutes, and the information they contain, are not privileged and may not be held confidential. In practice, this means South Dakota crash reports are generally accessible as public records, which can make it easier for everyone involved, including insurance companies, to review what was documented at the scene.

How Insurance Companies Actually Use the Report

Insurance adjusters lean on police reports heavily during the early stages of a claim. A few ways the report tends to shape how a claim unfolds:

• It often provides the first indication of which driver may have been at fault
• It documents citations issued, which can carry real weight in liability discussions
• It preserves witness contact information that might otherwise be lost
• It creates a record of conditions at the scene before anything changes

That said, a police report is not the final word on fault. Officers are not always present when the crash happens, and their conclusions are based on what they can piece together afterward, which sometimes means the report contains errors or an incomplete picture.

Contact Hoy Law About Your South Dakota Car Accident

If a report seems to misstate what happened, whether it is the described sequence of events, your statement, or a citation that does not match the facts, this is worth addressing early. Some agencies may allow you to request a correction or submit a supplemental statement, though policies vary. In many cases, the more effective path is building additional evidence, such as photos, witness statements, or dashcam footage, that can stand alongside or counter an inaccurate report during the claims process.

A flawed or incomplete police report does not have to define the outcome of your claim. Hoy Law represents injured drivers throughout South Dakota, including Sioux Falls, and our Sioux Falls car accident attorneys know how to build a case that holds up even when the official report falls short. Reach out to our office so we can take a closer look at what happened.

Source:

sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/32-34-13