See also: ACCIDENT REPORTS; ARREST REPORTS; ARRESTS; LABORATORY REPORTS
OFFICIAL RECORDS AND REPORTS.

A witness may be allowed to use a police report to refresh his recollection.{footnote} [3267]Thompson v. Boggs, 33 F.3d 847 (7th Cir. 1994).{/footnote}
As Hearsay

Records and reports often contain statements of others which may be inadmissible as double or multiple hearsay.  See HEARSAY–Double or Multiple Hearsay.  Such a statement has been held inadmissible where offered under the residual exception to the hearsay rule, on the grounds that the third party was available to testify as to his observations first-hand.{footnote}Parsons v. Honeywell, Inc., 929 F.2d 901 (2d Cir. 1991).{/footnote}

Official Records Exception

A contemporaneous police report regarding an accident has been held admissible hearsay under the exception for official records.{footnote} [3269]Foster v. General Motors Corp., 20 F.3d 838 (8th Cir. 1994)(admissible in product liability action).
            See also Glados, Inc. v. Reliance Insurance Co., 888 F.2d 1309 (11th Cir. 1987), cert. denied, 497 U.S. 1025 (1990)(admitting police report because officer had no stake in any litigation, therefore report was not prepared for purposes of litigation and thereby rendered untrustworthy).
            Annotation, Admissibility in State Court Proceedings of Police Reports Under Official Record Exception to Hearsay Rule, 31 A.L.R.4th 913.{/footnote}  See also ACCIDENT REPORTS; PUBLIC RECORDS AND REPORTS.  A report has been held inadmissible, however, where it merely recited a witness’s statement to the reporting officer, rather than the officer’s own observations.{footnote}Johnson v. Lutz, 170 N.E. 517 (N.Y. 1930); Victory Park Apartments, Inc. v. Axelson, 367 N.W.2d 155, 161 (N.D. 1985).{/footnote}

Business Records Exception{footnote}State v. Bertul, 664 P.2d 1181, 1185 (Utah 1983) (admitting a police report against the prosecution under the business records exception and concluding "that police reports of crimes should ordinarily be admitted when offered by the defendant in a criminal case to support his defense[, but w]hen offered by the prosecution, however, they should ordinarily be excluded").{/footnote}
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POLICE SKETCH  See IDENTIFICATIONS.