Do I let the police officer know that I am consulting a lawyer before handing over evidence?
I was in an accident with a bicycle.
He pulled out in front of me and I fully stopped. He kind of hopped up on the hood of my car, not at all knocked off the bike or injured. I asked him if he was OK. He replied no, but gave no other information. He took a photo of my license plate.
I asked him again if he was OK and he only replied “no”, nothing else. He did not ask for emergency services. He did not suggest calling the police. He did not ask my name or insurance information. He simply took a photograph of my license plate and walked away. I took a photograph of him walking away, showing no damage to the bike and him, walking completely normally.
He called the police and reported a hit and run.
I have dash cam footage showing that he did not even slow down at the intersection, he just continued riding his bike at an even speed.
An officer came to my home and left a business card on my front door. I called the officer and she told me he said it was a hit-and-run, I explained exactly what happened. She asked me to submit the dash cam footage and photograph. Should I do that or speak to a lawyer before sending it?
You are the suspect in a criminal investigation. Whenever this is the case, you should NEVER speak with the police without an attorney. Get an attorney. Have the attorney review the evidence and, if appropriate, have the attorney turn it over to the police. This is your best shot at avoiding charges and your best shot at being able to challenge the charges if they are brought.
I am not your attorney. This is general legal information based on the limited information provided. Details matter and additional details may change the applicability of this information. Further, although I believe that everything I have written is accurate, sometimes free advice is worth no more than yo paid for it. Please DO NOT message or phone me with further questions or comments as the discussions would be outside this forum and would not be visible to the public (you can comment below the answer if you want to add something further). Additionally, your posts are anonymous and unconnected, so I have no way to link your messages to your post outside of this forum.
Even though based on your post you did everything properly I would recommend lawyering up with DWI or traffic infraction counsel as you were set up and must protect yourself.
This advice is given absent any attorney-client relationship and without any particulars having been reviewed. Only counsel who has intimate knowledge of the facts particular to your case can give you legal direction that you can rely upon.
