Selling accident video

[Smiley]

A friend of mine asked me a question about selling video. I didn’t have a good answer, so I thought I would ask the group. If you happen to capture an accident on your camera what should people do? Should they offer to provide it free of charge to the party NOT at fault in the accident? Should they offer to sell it –either to the party at fault or not at fault? And if they should sell it –how much would it be worth? I did a search of the site and did not find any relevant discussions anywhere. Thank you for your input.

 

[kuoh]

If your "friend" was serious, I wouldn't be friends with him any longer. It shouldn't have been hard for you to give him a good answer without going to the internet.

KuoH

Should they offer to sell it –either to the party at fault or not at fault? And if they should sell it –how much would it be worth?

 

[Sunny]

In my opinion, if it's purely for evidence purposes, just give it.
If the incident is something newsworthy, deal with the news channel/s to see what they think about the video's worth.

 

[2000rpm]

Any good person would just give the video to the not-at-fault driver.

 

[Nigel]

In the UK, under CCTV law you must provide the footage if requested by people in the video and can charge up to £10 to cover your inconvenience. I believe it would be illegal to actually sell evidence to those that need it.

If selling it to the press then charge as much as you can, but in most cases that will be very little and not worth the bother!

 

[Sabe]

Makes me wonder is it yours to sell if you accidentally witness somebody else having an accident🙁
There is real people in every accident, selling that just to make some money is bull ****😡

We had small accident with our car and after releasing video here some company at youtube wanted to buy rights to it, i didn't sell because unless your video is something spectacular with hd quality i suspect that money is peanuts. I didn't want to waste my time to that offer.

 

[Deleted member 46308]

If your "friend" was serious, I wouldn't be friends with him any longer. It shouldn't have been hard for you to give him a good answer without going to the internet.

KuoH

+1

 

[Mozzie]

It would be good-will to offer video to someone in need an should make you feel good about it. Remember, this may be considered as good karma and may come around to you one day.

 

[randy]

A friend of mine asked me a question about selling video. I didn’t have a good answer, so I thought I would ask the group. If you happen to capture an accident on your camera what should people do? Should they offer to provide it free of charge to the party NOT at fault in the accident? Should they offer to sell it –either to the party at fault or not at fault? And if they should sell it –how much would it be worth? I did a search of the site and did not find any relevant discussions anywhere. Thank you for your input.

Hey Smiley,
If its a moral question of what you “should” do, do what you feel like. There is really no precedent to point to. However, if it is your standard accident and you’re in the US, in my opinion the police cannot seize your property. In general police can seize e-devices that contain evidence of a crime. However it needs to satisfy a standard of reasonableness...and that’s for crimes which accidents don’t often have.
If you actually run into this situation and say no get lost this is my property, I’m sure you’ll get some salty individuals. It’s your property, do what you want with it and put whatever price you want on it. One guideline to go by is the interested buyers Insurance deductible. Yes it may be mean, but not everyone is as great as you, I’ve seen some pure ******** that wind up being he victim. Also, if you have a police officer ordering you to give it over and you do not want to, explain to him/her in a nice manner that you are not consenting to this, and if he/she still takes it, document everything and go from there. I hope my post helps some.

 

[dash riposki]

So you make the victim aware of the video, for a price?

You've made it known you have the video, and then could have the video and you, subpoenaed.
You can then claim to have deleted the video, 'by mistake' if you don't want to be bothered, but you kind of affirm your (whoever the 'friend' is) status as a sleazebag.
🙂

 

[randy]

So you make the victim aware of the video, for a price?

You've made it known you have the video, and then could have the video and you, subpoenaed.
You can then claim to have deleted the video, 'by mistake' if you don't want to be bothered, but you kind of affirm your (whoever the 'friend' is) status as a sleazebag.
🙂

Dude that process will take entirely too long for the video owner to even think about. By the time an attorney generated a subpoena, the video owner will be long gone. I’m not sure they would even bother with a citizen if they didn’t have contact with them. This happens frequently with businesses who capture incidents in their cameras...and may have like one person who knows how to actually go to the time and burn a copy. There is also nothing that obligates you to answer your phone or door. You may earn the title of sleazebag (LoL) but the process is far more in your favor, I wouldn’t be intimidated by any litigation or law enforcement. Do what you would like to do with YOUR property, and if that’s handing it over consensually well you’re just a wonderful citizen 🙂

 

[Deleted member 46308]

So you make the victim aware of the video, for a price?

You've made it known you have the video, and then could have the video and you, subpoenaed.
You can then claim to have deleted the video, 'by mistake' if you don't want to be bothered, but you kind of affirm your (whoever the 'friend' is) status as a sleazebag.
🙂

Agree

 

[kamkar]

I would provide footage i record of a crash to anyone, and do so for free.
I just want the person doing wrong be held accountable and the person that have anything coming will get that.
If we are talking selling to media, then i can assure you if i get to a accident and there are sone one sticking their phones out to record the misery of others i will go medieval on their punk asses.
And then after that worry about my own liability violating some of the laws we have here in Denmark, but i will just have to deal with that and try not to whine too much about it cuz after all it is what it is.

 

[SawMaster]

If it is discovered that your friend has video which he didn't turn over to the authorities he may be slightly inconvenienced handling the charges that can be filed against him for leaving the scene of an accident, withholding evidence, and maybe more 😱 Doesn't matter if you answer the door or not; those charges will wait on you till you show up in the system and that is almost always an inconvenient time and place for it to happen. No fun in being arrested unexpectedly even for petty BS stuff 🙄

The entire point of dashcams is to obtain and hold evidence until retrieved and this is done in mind of protecting innocent parties. Only a crass POS would do something which limited the possibilities of assisting innocent people 😡 I'm with Kuoh- with friends who think like that you don't need enemies. When your turn comes and they crap on you similarly then you'll begin to understand things a lot more clearly. Experience is a great teacher but not always a nice one 😉

Phil

 

[randy]

If it is discovered that your friend has video which he didn't turn over to the authorities he may be slightly inconvenienced handling the charges that can be filed against him for leaving the scene of an accident, withholding evidence, and maybe more 😱 Doesn't matter if you answer the door or not; those charges will wait on you till you show up in the system and that is almost always an inconvenient time and place for it to happen. No fun in being arrested unexpectedly even for petty BS stuff 🙄

The entire point of dashcams is to obtain and hold evidence until retrieved and this is done in mind of protecting innocent parties. Only a crass POS would do something which limited the possibilities of assisting innocent people 😡 I'm with Kuoh- with friends who think like that you don't need enemies. When your turn comes and they crap on you similarly then you'll begin to understand things a lot more clearly. Experience is a great teacher but not always a nice one 😉

Phil

If it is discovered that your friend has video which he didn't turn over to the authorities he may be slightly inconvenienced handling the charges that can be filed against him for leaving the scene of an accident, withholding evidence, and maybe more 😱 Doesn't matter if you answer the door or not; those charges will wait on you till you show up in the system and that is almost always an inconvenient time and place for it to happen. No fun in being arrested unexpectedly even for petty BS stuff 🙄

The entire point of dashcams is to obtain and hold evidence until retrieved and this is done in mind of protecting innocent parties. Only a crass POS would do something which limited the possibilities of assisting innocent people 😡 I'm with Kuoh- with friends who think like that you don't need enemies. When your turn comes and they crap on you similarly then you'll begin to understand things a lot more clearly. Experience is a great teacher but not always a nice one 😉

Phil

1. I don’t know where you are at but in the US you are not legally obligated here to remain at the scene if you are just a witness.
2. Withhold evidence of what LoL...an infraction? It would be different if the accident was fatal/serious or had a criminal element to it such as a DUI. You will never have a warrant issued because you chose to leave and did not provide it...and in that scenario police would have nothing to say that you actually have it because they weren’t there to see it.
3. A dash cam has one purpose and that is to record. Anything else is relative to you, and what you need/want it for.
4. For me, it depends on the circumstances. If I saw a good person in a bad situation, and I could be the difference, I would have a hard time in not helping by turning it over. I do understand your point of view and I would be frustrated but I also would understand I’m not entitled to it.

 

[SawMaster]

Here in SC you must stay at the scene until released by the investigating officer if you are a witness. That makes you legally involved whether you like it or not, therefore evidence rules go into action at that point and apply to you. Those rules apply to every evidence of any type for any kind of infraction which happened at the point of the crash and afterward- even civil ones 😉 Your state seems to vary as will most other states- this is not a nationwide thing so best to make your statements here accordingly listing where you're referring to 😎

Because people here in SC know what will happen if they admit to being a witness they will not stay around and they will claim to have seen nothing even if they were looking straight and clear at it all right in front of them 🙁 Your dashcam (which isn't meant to just record like other cams but is specifically designed to record driving and related car activities even if you use it otherwise) is likely to be your only witness here; nobody else is likely to help you in any way 😳 I don't like this system but it's what we've got so you have to work with it. I've testified as an impartial witness in a few cases already and I can assure you that it is an unpleasant experience, but one I'll do again with my video backing me. Next time around the lawyers will be left looking less than believable instead of me and my simple honesty- it's my turn to have fun at their expense 🤣

There's no way to tell by sight whether a person is good or not unless you already know them, so your logic is flawed. You should not make presumptions based on appearances and base those decisions on ethics instead. The correct thing to do is always that regardless of who is involved 😎 You do the right thing because it is the right thing to do; no other implications apply 😀

Phil

 

[Lola]

I've heard but don't really know, if you turn over your SD card that the police are under no obligation to give it back to you the, what about this?

 

[randy]

I've heard but don't really know, if you turn over your SD card that the police are under no obligation to give it back to you the, what about this?

Hey Lola,
Short answer, most likely YES. My Opinion: First off, please understand that an accident is a civil issue unless there is a crime committed in conjunction with the accident. Accidents that wind up in court, generally go to civil court (without additional circumstance). The police can seize property that contains evidence of crime. With that being said, there is still a standard of reasonableness to adhere to when seizing a persons property. People who are filming police with their phones and happen to catch criminal activity, are getting favorable decisions when police take their phones to obtain evidence of low level offenses of the law...like your states respective resist/delay/obstruct law which is a common one. However, in general if the video will lead to criminal charges or contains evidence of crime, whether you hand it over consensually, or because you were ordered to, they will take it and store it into where their evidence goes...so the answer is likely yes for you because if they need it in the first place, they are going to keep it and adhere to the chain of custody. You will get it back when the case is done with. When it comes to proving fault in an accident, the police can’t take your property without consent unless there is a criminal element to it....they will not seize it to prove fault, but to provide evidence of a crime. Another guy in the threat pointed out the right to subpoena the video which can absolutely be done, but by the time any attorney is hired and litigation is started, the video owner is long gone I'm sure...unless he wants to cooperate, but if he did he would have in the first place 😵. Accidents can take forever to settle if they are not settled civilly out of court between the people involved or the insurance companies. Also, Please understand what Phil posted makes no sense lol. Not being free to leave because you witnessed an accident...lol. You are not required to stop as a witness, and therefore these "evidence laws" go into effect lololol. Criminal court cases are lost EVERYDAY because witnesses refuse to cooperate. If you want to have a moral debate about what you should do, different discussion. I hope my post helps answer your question.

 

[SawMaster]

Please understand what Phil posted makes no sense lol. Not being free to leave because you witnessed an accident...lol. You are not required to stop as a witness, and therefore these
evidence laws" go into effect lololol.

You can believe in the tooth fairy all you want but that is the law in SC. Furthermore you're also obligated to render aid to injured persons at the scene of an accident you happen across for which you will be indemnified as long as your actions to assist are reasonable. Look it up yourself. It's been like that here for over 50 years and it was even a question on the drivers license test 37 years ago. Whatever liberal state you're in may vary.

For someone who claims to have knowledge of the law yet does not understand the obvious in that other states law's will be different, you prove your own lack of credibility.

Phil

 

[randy]

You can believe in the tooth fairy all you want but that is the law in SC. Furthermore you're also obligated to render aid to injured persons at the scene of an accident you happen across for which you will be indemnified as long as your actions to assist are reasonable. Look it up yourself. It's been like that here for over 50 years and it was even a question on the drivers license test 37 years ago. Whatever liberal state you're in may vary.

For someone who claims to have knowledge of the law yet does not understand the obvious in that other states law's will be different, you prove your own lack of credibility.

Phil

1. Different states having different laws is common knowledge, I don’t know where you are getting that I said the US
2. I reviewed my posts I’m not sure I really made a ‘claim’ to have knowledge.
3. Okay help me out Phil since my credibility has been taken. Below are the respective state laws that cover what you’re talking about, and an additional article from a law firm. Please tell me what I am missing. Thanks
https://law.justia.com/codes/south-carolina/2012/title-56/chapter-5/section-56-5-1230/

https://law.justia.com/codes/south-carolina/2012/title-56/chapter-5/section-56-5-1220/

http://www.bicelaw.us/leaving-the-scene-of-an-accident-in-south-carolina/

Couldn’t find anything on witnesses.