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BWI Investigations-Forensics (BWI) is pleased to announce a new service: traffic accident investigation.
Longtime traffic accident investigator John Maxwell joins BWI to offer comprehensive vehicle crash investigations and reconstruction, further augmenting BWI’s full-service investigative services.
John’s professional background is impressive: He has more than 30 years of experience conducting crash investigations, including over two decades of service at the Brentwood Police Department as a crash investigator. During his last 12 years at Brentwood PD, John served as the department’s lead crash investigator.
He has also taught traffic crash investigations at Nashville State Community College to criminal justice students and is a certified motorcycle safety expert.
John’s traffic accident investigations apply to criminal, civil, and insurance-related cases. He’s handled all types of traffic investigations – including those involving vehicular homicide, bodily injury, pedestrians struck by cars, or high speed.
For BWI, “I will review the crash cases that come in, review the reports, and then do a forensic reconstruction to go back and rebuild the crash investigation,” John says. “A lot of times my work involves reviewing what the agency did in their investigation and making sure that what they did was correct.”
John also provides Event Data Recorder (EDR) downloads as part of his traffic investigation work at BWI. An EDR is essentially an automobile’s “black box” that records information about a vehicle in the moments before, during, and after a car crash. John uses this tool and others during his analyses.
Accident Investigator Strengthens BWI’s Comprehensive Services
BWI founder Rick Berry says that adding an accident investigator to the firm’s arsenal of experts makes sense because it further strengthens BWI’s comprehensive investigation services.
“We have been able to do some work on a car accident or a fatal car-related vehicular homicide such as interviews and things of that nature, but we are excited to have a technical expert join us to perform an analysis of accidents and have the technology to investigate the cause of an accident,” Rick says.
He said he learned of John’s expertise by speaking with a deputy chief of the Brentwood Police Department, asking him if he knew of a retired accident investigator who might want to partner with BWI. “The first person that came to his mind was John Maxwell,” Rick says.
Rick says John’s traffic investigations and reconstruction services fit into BWI’s ongoing efforts to increase the firm’s use of technology in investigations. BWI recently merged with their longtime digital forensics partner, bringing on digital investigator Kyne Marshall as a BWI staff member. BWI also recently acquired a drone to perform forensic mapping of crime scenes.
“With all these new tools, hiring an accident investigator was a logical next step, and after multiple conversations with John, it is obvious he is a good fit. His passion for accident investigations is obvious, and we are all about having passionate, dedicated people on our staff,” Rick says.
Eyewitness Testimony Sometimes Controversial in Accident Investigations
John says eyewitness testimony sometimes becomes relevant – and debatable – during traffic accident investigations. His job is to determine if eyewitnesses actually saw the crash or only heard the crash and then tried to piece it together.
“Oftentimes you find out the witnesses never saw the crash,” he explains. “They heard the crash and saw the aftermath, and what they tell investigators becomes an issue because they might tell you something, but the evidence absolutely doesn’t show it. The same way a crime scene investigator looks at a crime scene, I do that with a crash.”
It’s not that the eyewitnesses mean to misrepresent the truth; they are trying to make sense of what they heard, John says.
“I like to think that my investigations are unbiased because the evidence speaks for itself. In some cases, it may be good for our client, or it may not be. Our clients must be ready for that because I will not forfeit my credibility for one side or the other. And in talking with BWI, that is their same philosophy on all their cases,” John says.
In addition to his extensive training and work in accident investigations, John was formerly certified as a drug recognition expert and standardized field sobriety instructor. Those credentials bolstered his proficiency in investigating drug- or alcohol-related traffic incidents.
To hire BWI’s accident investigator, please call us at (615) 646-0860 or fill out this contact form.
