How does law enforcement determine...?

Question

... the cause of an accident such as the one below?

A neighbor was killed going to work in an early morning accident on a freeway, wherein he crossed the median and struck a semi, which killed him. The official report stated that the man "fell asleep at the wheel".

How do they determine that this "accident" was not a suicide? What clues / proof would there be that this was not a deliberate act? There was no note, but there are many cases where people take their own lives and don't leave notes. Is the determination based on statements from friends and family based on the mans' (apparent) behavior, etc?

Answer 1

IDK

Answer 2

That is a tough one. I would guess they would have to basically just go by questioning his friends,family and co-workers and maybe check into his financial situation to get a feeling of if anything was seriously wrong with his life. Check to see if he recently took out a life insurance policy-that might send a signal that he was planning something. Possibly asking people who witnessed the accident as well. If he fell asleep his car might have been swirving out of control before crossing the median. If he did it deliberately he would have went at a straight shot and probably sped up.

In the end there probably is no way to know for certain. One would just have to go with what little evidence they had.

Answer 3

No one will ever know if it was intentional unless there is a note or some other evidence of a suicide.  It almost insures that one's family can still pick up their insurance money.

Answer 4

Law enforcement cannot make assumptions.  They can only make determinations based on the known facts.  No suicide note, no evidence of suicidal behavior, witnesses observations and the generally known facts are all they have to go on in this case.

Answer 5

Because you take the most probably cause

Suicide by driving into oncoming traffic is not very logical, as the odds are you may survive. You might want to do it to be noticed, but then you would leave a note. Falling asleep at the wheel is very common

Also declaring it a suicide may result in insurance not being paid, so the police would have to be sure or face a lawsuit