Hurt in a crash on I-10 or Loop 303 in Goodyear? Save the witnesses

Freeway interchange in Goodyear where a private investigator searches for crash witnesses

A lot of the traffic through Goodyear is not local. Commuters heading into Phoenix, trucks running to and from the distribution buildings along the freeway, people on their way to California. When there is a collision on I-10 or Loop 303, the driver who saw it best may live in Yuma or Riverside, and they were gone ten minutes after the officer waved them on.

If you were hurt, or the other driver is blaming you, those witnesses and any video may decide how your claim goes. This page is a simple plan for the weeks after the crash, written for the person who was in it. It is general information, not legal advice, and if you were injured the first call should be to a lawyer.

In the first few days

Write it all down

Before anything else, write what you remember about the cars and people around you: colours, makes, plates, a company name on a truck, anyone who stopped, anyone who said "I saw the whole thing." Do it now. In two weeks those details will be gone.

Request the crash report

The report often lists witnesses and the number they gave at the scene. Which agency has it depends on who responded. The Arizona Department of Public Safety keeps reports for crashes its troopers investigated on an interstate or a state highway. DPS says crashes on city, town or county roads are kept by the agency that investigated, which for a surface street in Goodyear usually means the city's police department.

DPS takes requests through its Public Services Portal. It says a person involved in the crash, a vehicle owner, or their representative can request the unredacted report, the version with witness details.

Think about video

Gas stations, shops and some homes near an interchange have cameras. Trucks often have them too. Much of that footage records over itself on a cycle. Note anything you saw and tell your lawyer quickly so a request to keep the footage can go out before it disappears.

In the first two weeks

This is when a witness search is cheapest and most useful. A person reached a week after the crash remembers far more than one tracked down eight months later.

If the report gives a witness's name but the number is wrong, or you only have a description, this is the point to ask your lawyer whether to bring in a private investigator. Your lawyer may want to hire them directly so the work is organised around your claim.

A licensed private investigator can usually find a current address or phone number from partial details, contact the witness, explain who they are working for, and ask whether the person will give a statement. They can also find out who owns a camera that may have caught the crash and how long the footage is kept, so your lawyer can ask for it properly.

What you should get back

Ask for this in writing before work starts:

which witnesses were found, and how to reach them
each witness's account in their own words, including anything that does not help you
where the witness was and what they could see
which cameras exist, who owns them, and whether footage was kept

A statement that only contains the parts you like is easy for the other side to attack. An honest one is worth much more.

What a private investigator will not do

A reputable private investigator will not pay a witness, pressure them to say something, or contact the other driver if that driver has a lawyer. Under Arizona's interception law, A.R.S. 13-3005, recording a conversation is generally lawful when one person in it consents, and a professional will still tell the witness the interview is being recorded. Anyone who offers to get a statement by trickery is offering you evidence that will not hold up.

Cost, and keeping it sensible

Prices vary by firm. Ask for a fixed fee for the first round: locate the named witnesses and identify cameras. Approve further hours only if that round turns something up. For a minor crash with clear fault, your own notes and the report may be enough.

If the other driver is the one who vanished

Sometimes the hard-to-find person is the at-fault driver, who gave an old address at the scene. If you need to sue and cannot find them to serve the complaint, a private investigator can locate a current address so a process server can deliver it. Our article on Goodyear addresses north and south of the Gila explains the 90-day window you will have once the case is filed.

If you are the driver being blamed

Witnesses work for you too. If the other driver's story is wrong, the same steps apply: write down what you saw, request the report, note the cameras and tell your own insurer and lawyer. If a private investigator working for the other side contacts you, you can ask who hired them and check their licence. Talk to your own lawyer before you give a statement.

The deadline that matters most

Under A.R.S. 12-542, a lawsuit for injuries to a person generally has to be filed within two years, with some exceptions. Insurance claims can have shorter deadlines of their own. A witness search should run alongside your claim, never in place of it.

Hiring in Goodyear

Private investigators in Arizona are licensed by the Department of Public Safety. Ask any private investigator you are considering whether they have done witness location before, and check the licence through the DPS Public Services Portal; our guide on verifying an Arizona private investigator license shows how.

Every private investigator listed on Served & Found in Arizona is a member of the Arizona Association of Licensed Private Investigators. You can browse private investigators in Goodyear or start from the Goodyear page.

Tonight, before you sleep, write down every car you remember from the minute before the crash. Nobody else can do that part for you.

See the board: everyone in Goodyear · private investigators only.