How to get a car accident report in Connecticut

Where to get the report

• Connecticut State Police (crashes worked by troopers, including resident trooper towns) CSP: GovQA or mail $16; BuyCrash online

  The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP), which runs the Connecticut State Police, says on its Reports and Records page that many simple motor vehicle accidents (its FOI Request Center says many simple accidents with infractions or warnings only) may be available online at BuyCrash.com within thirty business days following the date of the accident, to be purchased and downloaded at the time of purchase, and that additional non-refundable convenience fees may apply for online requests, collected by a third-party vendor and not payable to the State. All other accidents not available online within 30 days, serious injury and fatal crashes and other investigative reports are requested from the Reports and Records Unit through DESPP’s online FOI Request Center (GovQA), where your invoice appears in your customer account and may be paid online by debit or credit card; the page says that under C.G.S. 29-10b a non-refundable search fee of $16.00 is required whether a report is produced or not, and payment must be received before any search. The statute sets $16 for each copy of an accident or investigative report and $16 for each search that produces no document (C.G.S. 29-10b). Other routes, from the FOI Request Center’s FAQ: mail form DPS-96-C, Request for Copy of Report, with payment to DESPP, Reports and Records Unit, 1111 Country Club Road, Middletown, CT 06457; or request in person at that address, Tuesday to Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., limited to 2 requests per person per day. Form DPS-96-C (Rev. 9/27/23) lists uncertified reports at $16.00 per request and certified reports at $17.00 per request, as a non-refundable search fee charged whether or not a report is produced, payable by check or money order to “Treasurer - State of CT”, and asks for the case number, location, crash date and time, injury level and the names of the people involved. The FOI Request Center says photographs within the body of the report are included, and that CD/DVD or reprints of photographs are subject to an additional fee for production; it also says the State Police do not hold municipal records, so if your crash happened in a town with its own police department and the State Police did not assist, ask that department. Questions: Reports and Records Unit, (860) 685-8250.

  Official page

• City or town police department that responded Ask that department; fees vary

  Ask the department that worked your crash. Each sets its own process, but the Freedom of Information Act caps the fee for a copy from a municipal agency at fifty cents per page (C.G.S. 1-212(a)(B)), lets the agency require prepayment only if the fee is estimated at ten dollars or more (1-212(c)), and requires it to waive the fee for an indigent individual (1-212(d)(1)). Example, Bridgeport Police Department only: its Records Division page says copies of reports are .50¢ per side, that a two-car accident is usually an eight-page report costing $4, that motor vehicle accident reports can be bought in person or by mail (money order, with the complete file number and a self-addressed stamped envelope) or online for an additional fee after waiting five business days, and that no report information is given out over the telephone; Records Division (203) 581-5270, Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Example, Hartford Police Department only: its Records Division page says to visit hartfordct.policereports.us for accident reports, that a minimum of 7 to 15 business days is required after an incident for a record to be available to the public, that records are available for incidents in the City of Hartford only, and that the fee for an incident report is 50 cents per copied page; Records Division (860) 757-4150. We could not load the New Haven Police Department’s reports page, so we do not state its fees.

  Official page

• State Police Accident Information Summary (free, not the official report) Free CSP summary, 30 days, not report

  For State Police crashes, DESPP posts a free Accident Information Summary with preliminary information on the parties, vehicles, insurance and a brief summary of the accident. DESPP says it is for informational purposes only and is not the official accident report, that most summaries are available to the parties involved on its website for thirty days from the date of the accident, and that Connecticut General Statutes may restrict what is provided; where information is restricted, you may visit the State Police Troop for the area where the accident occurred to get a copy of the summary.

  Official page

When you must report a crash in Connecticut

Stop, give ID; police if you cannot

Connecticut’s reporting duty is in its evasion of responsibility statute, C.G.S. 14-224 (2026 Supplement), and it applies to each operator who is “knowingly involved” in an accident. Death: you must at once stop and render such assistance as may be needed, and give your name, address, operator’s license number and registration number to any officer or witness to the death (14-224(a)). Serious physical injury or physical injury: you must at once stop, render assistance, and give the same four items to the person injured or to any officer or witness (14-224(b)(1), (2)); “physical injury” means impairment of physical condition or pain, and “serious physical injury” means physical injury that creates a substantial risk of death or causes serious disfigurement, serious impairment of health or serious loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ (C.G.S. 53a-3(3), (4)). Injury or damage to property: you must at once stop, render assistance, and give the same four items to the owner of the damaged property or to any officer or witness (14-224(b)(3)). Report to police: in each of these cases, if you are unable, for any reason or cause, to give that information to the person the statute names, you must immediately report the death, injury or damage to a police officer, a constable, a state police officer or an inspector of motor vehicles, or at the nearest police precinct or station, stating the location and circumstances of the accident and your name, address, operator’s license number and registration number. The statute sets no dollar threshold and does not otherwise require you to call police after a crash where the information was exchanged. Move your car: in an accident on a limited access highway that causes damage to property only, you must immediately move your vehicle from the traveled portion of the highway to an untraveled area adjacent to the accident site if it can be moved without risk of further damage to property or injury to any person, and doing so is not a violation of 14-224(b)(3) (14-224(d), (e)). Penalties: violating 14-224(a) or (b)(1) (death or serious physical injury) is a class B felony; (b)(2) (physical injury) is a class D felony; (b)(3) (property) is a class A misdemeanor for a first offense and, for any subsequent offense, a class D felony for which the court must impose a fine of at least $2,000 (14-224(f), (g)). The Commissioner of Motor Vehicles must also suspend your license without a hearing on a conviction: for a first violation of (a) or (b)(1), for not less than one year (not less than two years for a subsequent one); for (b)(2) or (b)(3), for not less than ninety days (not less than one year for a subsequent one) (C.G.S. 14-111(b)(1)). We found no Connecticut statute requiring a separate driver report to the Department of Motor Vehicles: C.G.S. 14-108, “Report of accidents”, is repealed (its official history line ends with P.A. 90-143, section 5), and the former financial responsibility “accident reports” sections, 14-116 to 14-128, are repealed too. The police side: in each accident in which anyone is killed or injured, or the property of any one individual, including the operator, is damaged in excess of $1,000, the officer or agency that investigates it must complete the uniform report and forward a copy to the Commissioner of Transportation not later than five days after completing the investigation (C.G.S. 14-108a(a)(2)). Cities and towns may have their own ordinances, which we did not survey.

What the report costs

CSP $16 ($17 certified); local varies

State Police: C.G.S. 29-10b requires the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection to charge $16 for each copy of an accident or investigative report and $16 for each record search that produces no document, so the fee is not refunded if no report is found. Form DPS-96-C lists uncertified reports at $16.00 per request and certified reports at $17.00 per request. DESPP’s page says additional non-refundable convenience fees may apply for online requests (its asterisk marks both BuyCrash.com and the online portal), collected by a third-party vendor and not payable to the State; it does not state the amount, and we do not quote one. The FOI Request Center says CD/DVD or photograph reprints cost extra but does not state the amount. City and town police: we found no statute that sets a dollar figure for a municipal crash report; the Freedom of Information Act caps a municipal agency’s copy fee at fifty cents per page and a state agency’s at twenty-five cents per page (C.G.S. 1-212(a)), and fees must be waived for an indigent individual (1-212(d)(1)). Examples from the departments’ own pages: Bridgeport charges .50¢ per side (about $4 for a typical eight-page two-car report), plus an additional fee online; Hartford charges 50 cents per copied page for incident reports and sends accident report requests to its online portal.

When the report is ready

CSP: may be online in 30 business days

By law, the investigating officer or agency must forward the uniform report to the Commissioner of Transportation not later than five days after completing the investigation, for crashes with a death, an injury or more than $1,000 in damage to any one person’s property (C.G.S. 14-108a(a)(2)); the statute sets no deadline for giving you a copy. State Police: DESPP’s Reports and Records page says many simple motor vehicle accidents may be available on BuyCrash.com within thirty business days following the date of the accident, and that requests through its FOI Request Center are processed in the order received. An older DESPP FAQ page still says most accident reports are online within ten business days through a different site; the newer Reports and Records page and the FOI Request Center both describe the 30-business-day BuyCrash route, so we rely on those. Examples, local departments only: Bridgeport says accidents are often available five days after the occurrence, to be sure after seven to ten working days, with online copies after five business days; Hartford says a minimum of 7 to 15 business days is required. The Freedom of Information Act requires prompt access, and any denial must be in writing within four business days (C.G.S. 1-210(a), 1-206(a)). Retention: we found no official statement of how long State Police or local departments keep crash reports.

Who can get a copy

Found no limit on who; redactions apply

We found no Connecticut statute limiting police crash reports to the people involved. Under the Freedom of Information Act, records kept by a public agency are public records, and every person has the right to inspect them promptly and to receive a copy, except as otherwise provided by federal law or state statute (C.G.S. 1-210(a)); the FOI Request Center accepts “public requests” for State Police crash reports. Agencies review reports before release and may redact: DESPP says all materials are reviewed by staff and that exemptions in the Act and other state and federal laws might apply. Examples of exemptions that can reach crash records: photographs, film, video or other images created by a law enforcement agency depicting a deceased victim of an accident, if disclosure could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of the victim or the surviving family, or depicting a minor (C.G.S. 1-210(b)(27)); and, when a crash is investigated as a crime, parts of records compiled in that investigation, such as signed or sworn witness statements or information to be used in a prospective law enforcement action if prejudicial to it (1-210(b)(3)). DESPP’s free online Accident Information Summary is described as available to the parties involved.

What to do now

1. 1

   Stop, help, and exchange information

   Give your name, address, license number and registration number to the injured person, the property owner, an officer or a witness. If you cannot, report the crash to police immediately.

2. 2

   Note the agency and case number

   Find out whether State Police or a city or town department responded, and get the case number. State Police do not hold municipal reports.

3. 3

   Request the report

   State Police: check BuyCrash.com, or use the FOI Request Center or form DPS-96-C ($16, charged even if no report is found). Local police: follow that department’s process.

4. 4

   Ask for video separately, now

   Body camera and dashcam video is not part of the crash report. Request it today, and post the crash on the bounty board for dashcam and business camera footage.

Frequently asked questions