Mount Pleasant Car Accident Lawyers

Section 56-5-1270 requires an officer who investigates an injury crash to send a written report to SCDMV within 24 hours after finishing. That report must list the drivers and witnesses the officer interviewed. Section 56-5-6170 says a crash, by itself, does not create a presumption that a traffic law was broken. The report reflects what the officer saw, measured and heard. According to the town, the police lobby stays open 24 hours a day, and dispatch answers around the clock.

A crash on an unincorporated stretch near town may carry a deputy's or a trooper's name instead. Countywide in 2024, the Charleston County Sheriff's Office worked 2,282 collisions and the Highway Patrol worked 1,497. Troop Six, Post A handles Highway Patrol coverage for Charleston and Berkeley counties. Frost Law Group can work out where the cars stopped, because that spot decides which records office to contact.

Two routes lead to the same document, the state's copy and the department's own. State law controls who may see the department's copy, and the right route depends on who is asking. Frost Law Group can request the report on your behalf once you hire the firm. A request that names the crash date, the location and the case number gives staff what they need to find the file.

The Town's Records Section and Its Posted Duties

The town's Records Management page describes a Records Section that archives, maintains and retrieves police reports. That page lists no collision report fee, no pickup address and no request form. Frost Law Group can confirm the current process with the department before anyone makes a trip. Until then, SCDMV sells its copy for $10, online or on Form FR-50.

Asking the Police Department for Its Copy

Section 56-5-1275 controls requests made straight to a law enforcement agency. The statute aims to keep crash reports away from anyone hunting for customers, which the law calls commercial solicitation. It sorts requesters into two groups, and each group follows its own rule when it asks for a copy.

Drivers and Others Listed on the Report

Law enforcement personnel and people named in the report skip the separate written request the statute imposes on others. That group usually includes each driver, injured occupants and witnesses the officer listed. A department may still set its own pickup process, so a lawyer confirms it before sending anyone to the counter.

Everyone Else Under Section 56-5-1275

Anyone outside that group must put a separate request in writing for each report. The request gives the person's name, address and planned use, in enough detail to show it is not solicitation. Lying on that request exposes the writer to penalties under Section 56-3-2520.

Of the four segments, SCDOT's highest 2024 estimate belonged to the one running from I-26 to West Coleman Boulevard, at 95,300 vehicles a day. The next segment, beyond Coleman, carried 65,300 as far as Houston Northcutt Boulevard. The count rose again to 81,200 on the piece ending at I-526. Farther along, the stretch from the Isle of Palms Connector to SC 41 carried 63,500. Heavy traffic does mean more drivers, and more dashcams, pass the scene while it is still fresh.

SCDOT's file gives SC 703 three names in town, West Coleman Boulevard, Coleman Boulevard and Ben Sawyer Boulevard. SC 703 carried 37,100 vehicles a day in 2024 from US 17 to Vincent Drive. The Isle of Palms Connector is SC 517, and Long Point Road is S-97. Mathis Ferry Road and Houston Northcutt Boulevard share the number S-56, while Rifle Range Road is S-51. Those numbers help match a report's route entry to the street where the cars met.

Blocked lanes on a busy corridor create pressure to clear the road. South Carolina law answers that pressure differently depending on how badly someone got hurt. A lawyer looks at when and why each car moved, since an insurer may raise it later. Photos taken before the move often show where each car sat at impact, so take them if you safely can.

Damage-Only Wrecks Under Section 56-5-1220

When a crash damages only vehicles and one of them blocks traffic, Section 56-5-1220(B) requires each driver to make every reasonable effort to move a drivable car off the roadway. The statute also protects that choice. A driver who moves a car before an officer arrives is not liable or at fault for the crash just because of the move.

Serious Injury Wrecks Under Section 56-5-1210

A wreck that kills someone or leaves great bodily injury follows a stricter rule. Section 56-5-1210(B) bars moving the vehicle until the investigating officer authorizes it. The statute defines great bodily injury as harm carrying a substantial risk of death, serious permanent disfigurement, or a long-lasting loss of how a limb or organ works. The vehicles then stay where they came to rest until the officer says otherwise.

A chain collision on a corridor this busy can leave several injured people chasing one policy. Written at the Section 38-77-140 minimum, that policy pays no more than $25,000 to any one injured person and $50,000 across everyone hurt in the accident. Under Section 38-77-250, a claimant's lawyer can put a sworn written request to the insurer and enclose the incident report. Thirty days is the insurer's window to disclose its limits in a sworn statement, or it may hand over its declarations page. Frost Law Group can use that answer to see how far the coverage stretches before anyone talks numbers.

Picture a driver on US 17 between Coleman Boulevard and I-526 who closes on stopped traffic and strikes the car ahead. Under Section 56-5-1930, the question is whether that driver's gap was reasonable and prudent. It weighs the speed of the cars, the density of traffic and the condition of the pavement. Nowhere does it name a gap in feet or seconds. In its 2012 Fairchild opinion, the South Carolina Supreme Court described an earlier case with this pattern. Testimony that one car was gaining on another before ramming its rear let a jury infer following too closely and a poor lookout.

Say a driver cuts right to reach the Isle of Palms Connector and clips your front fender. The driver may say you sped up, and you may say the car never signaled. Two statutes govern that move, and each one leaves room for argument. Frost Law Group can compare the damage pattern with each driver's account and any video from the scene.

The Safety Check Section 56-5-1900 Requires

Where a road is split into marked lanes, Section 56-5-1900 expects each car to stay inside one lane as nearly as practicable. Before drifting or steering out of it, the driver has to confirm the move is safe. A sideswipe at the lane line often puts that duty squarely at issue.

Signaling for the Final 100 Feet Under Section 56-5-2150

Section 56-5-2150 bars moving right or left unless the move is reasonably safe and properly signaled. The blinker has to stay on without a break across the final 100 feet before the turn. Breaking the section brings a $25 fine and adds no points to the driver's record.

Damage tells part of the story. A crease along a rear quarter panel points one way, and a crushed front corner points another. Paint transfer, the officer's photos and the spot where debris landed can fill in more. The officer's diagram, if the report includes one, adds a second view.

Jack C. Frost wore a Summerville Police Department badge as an officer and later a corporal. His fourteen years on the job ended with his retirement from the Charleston County Sheriff's Office. Report writing was part of that work, so he knows which lines of a sideswipe report rest on measurements and which rest on a driver's account.

Census Bureau address matching places Roper St. Francis Mount Pleasant Hospital and Novant Health East Cooper Medical Center inside town limits. Each keeps its own emergency chart, imaging and billing records. A claim file that includes only one visit can leave out the first description of your injuries. Both charts matter when you went to one hospital and followed up at the other.

Roper St. Francis Mount Pleasant Hospital on Highway 17 North

Roper St. Francis Mount Pleasant Hospital sits at 3500 Highway 17 North. The hospital describes a 24-hour full-service emergency department and a helipad, with 85 beds in all. Highway 17 North is the name SCDOT's file uses for US 17 through town, so the hospital sits on the same corridor that SCDOT counts.

Novant Health East Cooper Medical Center on Hospital Drive

Novant Health East Cooper Medical Center is at 2000 Hospital Drive. The hospital advertises emergency care around the clock. Older paperwork may use the name East Cooper Medical Center, so records requests should use the current name and the old one. That matters when a clinic or an insurer still prints the older name on its forms.

A patient first seen in Mount Pleasant and sent on to a trauma center leaves a longer paper trail. The sending hospital keeps its emergency chart, and the receiving hospital starts its own. The second hospital's discharge summary usually lists the procedures performed there. Frost Law Group can ask for each of those files, because the later chart may describe the worst injuries in the most detail.

Once you sign an authorization, Frost Law Group can gather the ambulance patient care report, the emergency chart, imaging and discharge instructions. Follow-up notes from your own doctor and any therapy records complete the picture. An adjuster compares those papers with the crash report and looks for gaps in treatment. A lawyer tries to document the reason for any gap, such as a delayed referral, before the adjuster asks.

A municipal judge takes town ordinance cases, plus offenses inside town limits punishable by no more than $500 or 30 days behind bars. A ticket for following too closely may land on that docket. Whether the driver pays it or contests it, the ticket case stays separate from your claim. The officer who wrote the ticket may testify at that hearing, and a lawyer can note what the officer says.

The East Cooper Magistrate, at 1189 Sweetgrass Basket Parkway, carries a Mount Pleasant address, yet it belongs to Charleston County, not the town. A magistrate's civil docket stops at $7,500 in dispute, under Section 22-3-10. A claim with hospital bills and lost pay usually outgrows that limit. Frost Law Group can weigh the full amount at stake, including future treatment, before choosing a court. A property damage claim under $7,500 is the kind of dispute that can fit there.

Bigger injury suits belong in the Court of Common Pleas, which handles the circuit court's civil cases. Charleston County's courthouse sits at 100 Broad Street in Charleston. The Ninth Judicial Circuit covers the county, along with Berkeley County. Section 15-7-30(C) also opens the at-fault driver's home county, so a Dorchester County resident who caused a US 17 wreck could face suit in St. George.

Three Years to File Under Section 15-3-530

Most injury plaintiffs get three years to sue, and Section 15-3-530 is where that number comes from. The period starts when the injured person learned of the claim or, using reasonable care, should have learned of it, as Section 15-3-535 provides. A Town of Mount Pleasant truck brings in the Tort Claims Act. Its Section 15-78-110 clock runs two years, starting on the day the injured person discovered the loss, or would have with reasonable care. Lodging a verified claim with the town beforehand adds a third year, but Section 15-78-80(d) requires the town to have it within twelve months of that day.

Serving the Defendant Within 120 Days

Filing alone does not always stop the clock. Under Section 15-3-20(B), filing starts the suit only when actual service on the defendant follows within 120 days. Frost Law Group can track both dates, because late service can undo a claim filed near the deadline. A defendant who is hard to find makes that second date harder to meet.