“It’s fascinating stuff, seeing how a skid can be turned into a speed,” he said. He said trained prosecutors could better collaborate with police traffic investigators “to make sure all the t’s are crossed and i’s dotted.” “The goal is to have more prosecutors trained on crash reconstruction.”
#Traffic crash investigation training trial
“If I have the ability to explain it to a juror in layman’s terms, trial presentation improves, cases have better outcomes,” said Segal, who supervises the prosecutor’s Vehicular Homicide and Traffic Safety Unit. He said understanding the math and science behind the investigations will improve his presentation of cases to a grand jury or in trial. While he won’t be doing on-scene crash investigations, Deputy Prosecutor Brandon Segal said he will understand what officers are doing when they examine yaw marks or skid marks at a collision scene. “I enjoy traffic enforcement, keeping the roads safe,” said Falite, who often makes impaired-driving arrests. Now we can take evidence, skid marks, determine the speed, validate people’s statements.” “Before, I wouldn’t think too much about the crash,” he said. Wailuku patrol officer Skylar Falite said he will look at debris on the road and other evidence he might not have noticed in the past while responding to collisions multiple times a week. “It’s been difficult, but it’s been a very eye-opening experience as to all the elements that go into a traffic collision.” “After taking this class, it’s only cemented that this is something I want to do,” he said. “Math has always been my strong subject in school,” said Tetzloff, who has been interested in traffic investigation. Kihei patrol officer Cody Tetzloff said patrol officers are often focused on moving vehicles off the roadway and don’t have time to dissect minor crash scenes.Īfter learning about the value of skid marks and displaced debris, he said he would be able to gauge how fast a vehicle was going, in comparison with what someone says. “It’s going really deep into a crash,” he said. With mathematical formulas, even the speed of pedestrians can be calculated, Mehra said. “You can figure out if the person was paying attention or not.” “You can figure out so much about what happened before the crash just from the evidence you find at the crash,” he said. “Every time they come up with a new safety device, we have to change our training a little bit to compensate for it,” Snow said.ĭUI Task Force officer Rahul Mehra said the training will allow him to do more at crash scenes.Īlong with his current job of working to prevent crashes, “it brings it all together,” Mehra said. While the basic training remains the same, Snow said changes are made to factor in new technology in vehicles, such as anti-lock brakes that affect the visibility of skid marks. Kihata said the class was “a little easier, but still hard,” with some new formulas and new technology including drone mapping. “It’s always important to get as many answers as we can when investigating traffic crashes, especially when a fatality is involved.” “There’s advancements in technology for continuing the investigations and more data and information we can retrieve,” Krau said. Nick Krau, have completed the training before. Some officers, including Vehicle Homicide Unit Sgt. With a state Department of Transportation grant paying the $97,500 cost to have the training on Maui for the first time, police traffic officers were joined by three patrol officers and eight Hawaii County Police Department officers. In the past, police have sent officers, a few at a time, to similar training in Honolulu. “It’s very math intense,” he said, incorporating geometry, trigonometry and physics. He helped run the training by the institute, which is part of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. With computers in vehicles storing data during a collision, “that gives us a lot of information, but it doesn’t give us everything,” Snow said.
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