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FL Stat 316.062 vs. Fifth

The accident report privilege was established to protect a person's 5th Amendment rights pursuant to the United States Constitution while at the same time, requiring reporting of a car accident pursuant to state regulations. Florida Statute 316.062 requires a driver that is in a car accident to supply the police with his name, address, license, insurance & other information in order for law enforcement to complete the accident report. Failure to provide the information required by statute is a misdemeanor criminal offense. The statutory reporting requirement is in conflict with the 5th Amendment if providing the required information needed to complete the crash investigation report would lead to the driver confessing to a criminal offense, such as a DUI. Accordingly, Florida Statute 316.066(7) provides that the statements and information made by a person subject to the reporting requirements in FL Stat 316.062 are "without prejudice" & the statements cannot be used against the individual in any future legal proceedings.

Law enforcement usually handle a car accident report with suspicion of criminal activity in 1 of 2 ways. The officer on the scene of the accident will inform the individual "I am now beginning a criminal investigation" or in the alternative, the police officer can call for an "independent crash investigation." An independent crash investigator handles the criminal aspects of the investigation without the use of the information obtained in the accident report.

In the case of Wetherington v. State the district court of appeal overturned the lower court's findings of guilt and the sentence of defendant for a felony DUI conviction. The district court of appeal ruled that "the testimony of a police officer concerning statements made by the defendant was erroneously admitted into evidence in contravention of the accident report privilege," as was conceded by the prosecution. The court ruled that this error wasn't harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, and therefore ordered the receive a new trial.

Florida is one of a few, if not the last, remaining state(s) with a statutory accident report privilege. In other jurisdictions the defendant should attempt to raise the constitutional argument against self-incrimination in all accident cases where the information obtained from the crash investigation is introduced defendant during a criminal proceeding. There have been mixed results throughout the country. A lot of the rulings are determined by whether the defendant was made aware, knew or should have known that the officer was no longer conducting a civil investigation. A standard practice for all police officers investigating an accident, and suspect criminal activity, should be to explicitly inform a driver at the conclusion of the civil aspect of the investigation is complete and when the criminal investigation begins.

For more information regarding Criminal Attorney or Criminal Defense Attorney or please contact us at: The Law Offices of Michael A. Dye, PA 1 E Broward Blvd # 700
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
(954)990-0525