At one time or another, we’ve all become frustrated when driving. When that happens, sometimes there’s a sudden urge to brake check someone who is following you too closely or after passing someone who was driving too slowly. But brake checking is illegal in Tennessee, potentially resulting in criminal charges for negligent or reckless driving. The ramifications could include jail time, fines and points on your license that could result in license suspension or revocation.
Given the stakes involved in a case involving brake checking, you need to know how to develop a strong criminal defense. But before we can discuss the defense options that may be available to you, we have to touch base on how prosecutors prove these cases.
The evidence used to support brake checking cases in Tennessee
A brake checking case can be somewhat difficult for prosecutors to prove, depending on the circumstances. However, there are several places they’ll turn to gather evidence to support their case, including the following:
- The alleged victim: The victim’s personal account, given in open court if your case goes to trial, can be powerful testimony. After all, they witness your actions first-hand, and a jury may have sympathy for them if they suffered injuries, potentially swaying them to find the alleged victim’s testimony credible.
- Third-party accounts: If the incident in question occurred on a busy road, then there’s a good chance that other motorists saw it and can testify to what happened. The more witnesses the prosecution has to corroborate their side of the story, the stronger of a position they’ll be in to secure a conviction.
- Dash cam video: Police aren’t the only ones with dashcams nowadays. Rideshare drivers and commuters regularly have these devices installed. This means that there could be video evidence of the event in question that prosecutors will rely upon when bringing your case forward.
- Traffic cameras: These are becoming more common, too. Prosecutors can gain easy access to them, which may depict the accident for which you’ve been charged.
- Accident reconstruction: Prosecutors may even have an expert conduct an accident reconstruction, where the laws of physics are applied to the physical evidence. Tire marks, for example, can be assessed to determine when the brakes were slammed and how fast the vehicle were going when the brakes were applied.
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How can you combat the prosecution’s evidence in a brake checking case?
There might several options available to you. You could attack the credibility and thus the reliability of any witnesses, and you might be able to use the rules of evidence to block video footage from being admitted into evidence. Of course, even if you can’t prevent harmful evidence from being shown to the jury, you should do your best to contextualize the situation. For example, dashcam footage may not clearly show a hazard that was in the road for which you hit the brakes. Or a witness may not have noticed that something ran across the road, causing you to slam on the brakes. So, make sure you’re telling as compelling of a story as possible in raising your criminal defense.
Typically, the driver of the vehicle that rear-ends another is found responsible for the wreck. But that isn’t so in the case of brake checking. Given the magnitude of the penalties involved in a conviction for negligent or reckless driving, you can’t afford to improvise your way through your case. So, if you’re ready to figure out the most effective way to fight back against the prosecution’s claims, then now is the time to talk through your criminal defense options and pursue those that are most likely to be successful.