San Bernardino Municipal Code Ch. 10.40 Damage to Property

The driver of a vehicle, or the person in charge of any animal, involved in any accident resulting in damage to any property, publicly owned, including, but not limited to, any fire hydrant, ornamental lighting post or ornamental shade tree, located in or along any street or within any public park; or resulting in damage to any property owned by any public utility, including, but not limited to, a telephone pole, electric light or power pole, where the damage exceeds $25, shall, within 24 hours after such accident, make, or cause to be made, a written report of such accident to the City Police Department upon forms furnished by the Police Department.

(Ord. 1652, passed 3-18-1941)

All required accident reports shall be without prejudice to the individual so reporting and shall be for the confidential use of the Police Department, except that the Police Department shall disclose the names and addresses of persons involved in, or witnesses to, an accident; the registration numbers and descriptions of vehicles involved; and the date, time and location of an accident to any person who may have a proper interest therein, including the driver or drivers involved, or the legal guardian thereof, the parent of a minor driver, the authorized representative of a driver or to any person injured therein and the owners of vehicles or property damaged thereby, or all of them. No such report shall be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal, arising out of an accident, except that the Department shall furnish, upon demand of any person who has or claims to have made such a report or upon demand of any court, a certificate showing that a specified accident report has or has not been made to the Police Department solely to prove a compliance or a failure to comply with the requirement that such a report be made to the Police Department.

(Ord. 1652, passed 3-18-1941)