How to get your Chatham County crash report.

AFTER THE ACCIDENT

Who has your crash report in Chatham County?

In Chatham County, the police agency that worked your crash keeps the report. Since Savannah and Chatham County ended their shared police department in 2018, that usually means Savannah Police inside Savannah city limits and Chatham County Police in unincorporated areas. Six other Chatham cities run their own departments, and state troopers work some highway crashes.

That change still trips people up. For about twelve years, one metro department answered calls across most of the county, and a lot of people still talk as if it does. It doesn’t. Ask the wrong agency and you can lose a week you didn’t have to lose.

This page is what we would tell a neighbor who called us from the side of the road. If you would rather hand the whole thing off, Kenneth S. Nugent, P.C. can request the report for you and read it with you, line by line.

Don’t sign anything from the insurance company before speaking with an attorney. Their first offer is almost never their best.

Which agency worked your crash?

Start with where the crash happened, not the road you were on. The city or county line decides the agency, even on a busy highway. Match the place to the agency in the table below, then check the slip the officer handed you. It usually names the agency and gives a case report number.

Where the crash happened	Who usually has the report	Where to ask
Inside Savannah city limits	Savannah Police Department	Records Unit, 602 East Lathrop Avenue, second floor. Weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Unincorporated Chatham County, including Wilmington Island, Whitemarsh Island and Skidaway Island	Chatham County Police Department	Records office, 295 Police Memorial Drive, or the department’s online records request form
Inside Pooler, including many I-95, I-16 and US-80 crashes in the city	Pooler Police Department	The department’s records office
Inside Garden City	Garden City Police Department	The department’s records office
Inside Port Wentworth	Port Wentworth Police Department	The department’s records office
On Tybee Island	Tybee Island Police Department	The department’s records office
Inside Thunderbolt	Thunderbolt Police Department	The department’s records office
Inside Bloomingdale	Bloomingdale Police Department	The department’s records office
An interstate or state route where a trooper worked the scene	Georgia State Patrol	The State Patrol post that covers the area, or online
Port terminals and other Georgia Ports Authority property	Georgia Ports Authority Police Department	Police Records, 100 Main Street, Garden City
The airport, Hunter Army Airfield or a college campus	That property’s own officers may hold it	Call us and we’ll track it down

Here is the trap. A Savannah mailing address doesn’t mean Savannah Police. Wilmington Island, Whitemarsh Island and Skidaway Island all use Savannah addresses, but they sit outside the city, so Chatham County Police usually works those crashes. The same can be true of neighborhoods right at the edge of the city.

Calling 911 won’t settle it either. One county communications center dispatches for many of these departments, so the dispatcher you spoke with is not necessarily the agency that showed up.

Two smaller notes. Chatham County also includes Vernonburg, a very small town with no city hall. If your crash happened there, call us and we’ll confirm who took the report. And on port property, at the airport or on Hunter Army Airfield, a different agency may hold the report and a different claims process may apply. Call the office before you count days on any of those.

Can’t tell which agency came out? Call 912-715-9288 and tell us the road and the nearest cross street. We can usually sort it out in one conversation.

Why does the report matter so much for your claim?

The crash report is often the first thing an insurance adjuster reads, and it can shape how they value your claim before anyone talks numbers. It records the officer’s diagram, any citation, the witnesses and the other driver’s insurance. A mistake left on the report tends to follow the claim from there.

That’s why our car accident lawyers read the report early. A wrong lane, a missing witness or a box checked the wrong way is much easier to address when someone catches it in the first few weeks.

Freight moves through Chatham County on I-16, I-95 and the port roads all day. If a tractor-trailer hit you, the police report is only a starting point. Our tractor-trailer crash attorneys also go after the driver’s logs and the truck’s camera footage before a trucking company’s routine record keeping lets them disappear. If you were on foot or on a bike, downtown or out on Tybee, the report may say very little about what happened to you. Our pedestrian accident attorneys know how to fill in what the officer didn’t see.

The report can also tell you whether a clock is already running. If a city vehicle, a county truck or a broken signal played a part, Georgia generally requires written notice to that government before you can sue. For a city, that is usually six months. For Chatham County or the State of Georgia, it is generally twelve. A claim against a private driver generally allows two years to file suit. Our notice deadline guide for Chatham County lays out each one.

If a government vehicle or a road problem was involved, call us at 912-715-9288 this week if you can. Six months passes fast when you’re still healing.

What should you do this week?

Get the report, read it, and keep everything else. Most Chatham County reports can be requested in person, through an agency’s online form, or through a paid online report service. Expect to wait a few business days after the officer files it. Have the date, the location and a name or case number ready.

1. Find the slip the officer gave you at the scene. The case report number on it is the fastest way to your report.
2. Match the place to the agency using the table above. If the crash happened close to a city line, ask both agencies.
3. Request it. Savannah Police and Chatham County Police both take requests at their records offices, and Chatham County Police also has an online form. Many Georgia agencies also post reports through a paid online report service.
4. Expect a short form. Georgia limits who can get a crash report, so you may be asked to sign a Statement of Need that says how you were involved.
5. Read every line. Check the names, the diagram, the direction of travel and the witness list, and write down anything that’s wrong.
6. Keep your photos, medical paperwork and tow receipt together. The report is one piece of your claim, not the whole thing. If you were taken to a hospital, your ER and ambulance records matter just as much.

Or skip the paperwork. Call the Savannah office at 1 Bull Street and we’ll request the report, go over it with you and tell you honestly where your claim stands. Across Georgia we’ve recovered more than $5 billion for over 300,000 clients in 45 years, from 9 offices. You pay nothing up front, and zero fee unless we win.

What do the words on the report mean?

A handful of terms come up again and again when you deal with Chatham County agencies. Here is what they mean in plain words.

Term	What it means
Custodian	The agency that keeps the official copy of your report. In Chatham County, that is usually whoever worked the scene.
Unincorporated	Land that isn’t inside any city. In Chatham County, Chatham County Police usually covers it.
Case report number	The number the officer gives you at the scene. Records offices use it to find your report quickly.
Statement of Need	A short form some agencies ask you to sign before they release a crash report, saying how you were involved.
Ante litem notice	Latin for “before the lawsuit.” A formal written notice you generally must send a government before you can sue it.