How Can I Get Nearby Security Video After Being Hit by a Car While Walking?

If you need nearby security video after being hit by a car while walking, identify potential cameras quickly and ask the owner or operator to preserve the footage.

Quick Answer

If you were hit by a car while walking, identify nearby cameras quickly and ask the owner or operator to preserve the footage. Look at businesses, homes, parking facilities, buses, doorbell cameras, and other locations facing the street. A preservation request may help prevent routine deletion, but it does not guarantee that footage exists or that it will be released to you.

Key Takeaways

• Look for cameras as soon as possible because recording systems may overwrite footage.
• Record the exact time, location, and direction of the collision.
• Ask that footage be preserved even if the owner will not give you a copy.
• A request does not guarantee that video exists or that you can obtain it.
• Preserve photographs, witness information, and other evidence too.

Where Should I Look for Security Video?

Start at the collision location and look in every direction a camera might have faced. Potential sources include storefronts, banks, apartment buildings, parking garages, gas stations, schools, houses with doorbell cameras, SEPTA vehicles, and private vehicles with dashcams.

Also consider cameras that may have recorded the driver before or after impact. Footage from the next corner could show the vehicle, traffic signal, speed, direction of travel, or where the driver stopped.

How Should I Ask for the Video to Be Preserved?

Identify the person or organization controlling the camera. Provide the date, approximate time, precise location, and a short description of what occurred. Ask in writing that footage covering a reasonable period before and after the collision be preserved.

Keep a copy of the request and note when, how, and to whom it was delivered. Do not state that the camera definitely captured the accident if you do not know. The owner may decline to provide footage voluntarily, but a prompt preservation request can still document that you identified it.

What Information Will Help Locate the Recording?

Use the police event number, photographs, phone location history, receipts, messages, or witness accounts to narrow the time. Even a difference of several minutes can matter when someone searches a recording system.

What To Do Next

1. Return safely or ask someone to photograph nearby cameras and their locations.
2. Write down the most accurate collision time and location available.
3. Send focused written preservation requests promptly.
4. Keep copies of requests, replies, and contact information.
5. Seek timely guidance if important footage may be lost or access is refused.

Speak Directly With The Oakes Firm

When video may help explain a pedestrian collision, The Oakes Firm can review the accident, identify potential evidence sources, and discuss appropriate preservation steps.

Visit The Oakes Firm’s Philadelphia Pedestrian Accident Guide →

Free consultation. No fee unless there is a recovery.

Call (215) 883-4412

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