How Do You Get a Police Accident Report After a Car Accident in San Antonio?

The police accident report filed after your car accident is one of the most important documents in your injury claim. It contains the responding officer's account of what happened, the names and insurance information of everyone involved, witness contact details, a diagram of the crash scene, and in many cases, the officer's determination of who was at fault. Insurance adjusters use this report as the starting point for every claim they evaluate, and if the report supports your version of events, it puts you in a much stronger negotiating position. The car accident lawyers at Carabin Shaw make obtaining and reviewing the accident report one of the first things they do on every case.

Under Texas law, officers are required to file a crash report - called a CR-3 form - whenever a traffic accident results in injury, death, or property damage of $1,000 or more. That covers the vast majority of car accidents on San Antonio roads. But getting your hands on a copy of that report is not always straightforward, and what is inside it is not always accurate. Understanding how the process works and what to do if the report contains errors can make a real difference in the outcome of your claim.

Bexar County recorded over 40,077 crashes in 2023, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Every one of those crashes should have generated a police report. If yours did not - or if the report does not tell the full story - a car accident attorney can help you address the gap before the insurance company uses it against you.

The CR-3 is the standard crash report form used by every law enforcement agency in Texas. When a San Antonio Police Department officer, Bexar County Sheriff's deputy, or Texas Department of Public Safety trooper responds to a car accident, they complete a CR-3 and submit it to TxDOT's Crash Records Information System. The form is several pages long and captures a detailed record of the accident. It includes the date, time, and exact location of the crash; the names, addresses, phone numbers, and driver's license numbers of all drivers involved; insurance company names and policy numbers for each vehicle; a description of each vehicle including make, model, year, color, and license plate; the names and contact information of passengers and witnesses; the officer's narrative description of how the accident happened; a diagram showing the positions of the vehicles before, during, and after the crash; weather, road, and lighting conditions at the time; whether any driver was cited for a traffic violation; whether alcohol or drug use was suspected; the severity of injuries reported at the scene; and contributing factors the officer identified, such as speeding, failure to yield, distracted driving, or running a red light.

There are several ways to obtain your crash report depending on which agency responded. If SAPD responded, you can request the report through the San Antonio Police Department's Records Division. Reports are typically available within 10 business days of the crash. You can request a copy online through the department's website, by mail, or in person at the Records office. There is usually a small fee for the copy. If a Bexar County deputy or a DPS trooper filed the report, you can request it through those agencies or directly from TxDOT. TxDOT maintains the statewide Crash Records Information System, and you can order a copy of any Texas crash report through their website at cris.dot.state.tx.us. The fee is $6 per report, and they accept credit card payment online. Reports are usually available within 10 days, though complex crashes involving fatalities or multiple vehicles may take longer.

If the police responded to your accident but did not file a CR-3, you have options. Texas Transportation Code Section 550.062 requires any driver involved in an accident resulting in injury, death, or property damage of $1,000 or more to file a Driver's Crash Report - known as a CR-2 - with TxDOT within 10 days if no officer filed a CR-3. You can submit this form yourself through TxDOT. The CR-2 is a self-reported form, so it does not carry the same weight as an officer's report, but it creates an official record that the accident occurred. If the police never came to the scene at all - which happens more often with minor accidents - the CR-2 may be your only official documentation.

Insurance adjusters treat the police report as a critical piece of their investigation. The officer's determination of fault, any traffic citations issued, and the contributing factors listed on the report all influence how the adjuster evaluates your claim. If the report says the other driver ran a red light and was cited for failure to obey a traffic signal, that is strong evidence of negligence. If the report lists the other driver's speed as a contributing factor, it supports your claim that they were driving recklessly. And if the report notes that the other driver was suspected of alcohol or drug impairment, it may open the door to punitive damages.

Conversely, if the report is vague, incomplete, or inaccurate, the insurance company will use that ambiguity to dispute liability or reduce your payout.

Police reports are not always accurate. Officers arrive after the crash has already happened. They rely on statements from the drivers, passengers, and witnesses - all of whom may be shaken, confused, or not entirely truthful. The officer may misidentify which driver had the green light. They may fail to note a critical piece of evidence like a skid mark or a broken traffic signal. They may record the wrong direction of travel or the wrong lane position. And in some cases, the officer's assessment of fault simply does not match the physical evidence.

If the police report contains errors that hurt your claim, your car accident attorney can challenge it. Supplemental evidence - surveillance footage, dashcam video, cell phone records, witness statements obtained independently, accident reconstruction analysis, and the vehicle's event data recorder - can contradict the officer's account and establish what actually happened. The police report is influential, but it is not the final word. A jury is not bound by the officer's conclusions and can reach a different determination based on all the evidence presented at trial.

Do not wait. Request your accident report as soon as it is available, which is usually within 7 to 10 business days of the crash. Review it carefully for accuracy. Check that your name, the other driver's name, vehicle descriptions, insurance information, and the location of the crash are all correct. Read the officer's narrative and compare it to your own memory of what happened. If anything is wrong, bring it to your attorney's attention immediately so they can begin gathering the evidence needed to correct the record.

Yes. The police report is available to all parties involved in the crash, their insurance companies, and their attorneys. The other driver and their insurer will obtain a copy and use it in their own evaluation. This is another reason it is important to review the report early - if the other side is building their defense based on information in the report that is inaccurate, you need to know about it and be prepared to counter it with independent evidence.

It happens frequently. The other driver tells the officer they had the green light when they did not. They say you were speeding when you were not. They claim you changed lanes into them when they are the one who crossed the center line. If the officer includes those statements in the report, the insurance company will point to them as evidence against you. But statements to police are just one piece of the puzzle. Surveillance cameras at nearby businesses, red-light cameras at intersections, dashcam footage, cell phone GPS data, and physical evidence like damage patterns and debris locations can all prove the other driver's account was false.

The car accident attorneys at Carabin Shaw know how to obtain, review, and challenge police accident reports in Bexar County and across Texas. If the report supports your case, they will use it aggressively. If it does not, they will build the evidence to overcome it. Consultations are free, and there is no fee unless they win. CALL SHAW at 800-862-1260.