Video: The Role of Forensics in Hit and Run Cases

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Forensics has been a game changer for hit and run investigations.

Crime scene investigators work these cases just like any other crime scene.

They are looking for evidence left behind, and other signs that could narrow down leads for law enforcement.

When a vehicle flees a hit and run scene, it leaves investigators with no suspect and a wide open case.

When they can’t follow the vehicle, they have to follow the evidence.

The first thing investigators will do is read the road.

“The most obvious thing is going to be tire marks. Unless the car can fly, there is going to be tire marks left in some way, shape, or form. So, we look for tire tracks that are usable for comparison purposes,” says Director of the Columbus Forensics Lab, Austin Shepherd.

Violent crimes leave things like bullet casings and in hit and runs, bits and pieces of cars and trucks provide the first clues.

“That can extend to, of course the most popular, paint chips, that kind of stuff, but also busted tail lights, busted headlights, pieces of the car. All of that kind of stuff helps us put a puzzle together to determine at least what type of vehicle we are dealing with,” says Shepherd.

The process is not as easy as it may seem and is far from what you see on TV shows, like CSI.

“To try to pull it up and just really grab an easy formula to identify that this went to this manufacturer, or this paint manufacturer, or type of car, it takes someone with a set of skills to break it down to get to that,” says Bob’s Paint and Auto Body co-owner, Tom Cooper.

For example, a paint chip from a car, works much like human DNA.

“Every manufacture has its own specific paint coats, and with that, we formulate that and there can be, with the exception of your basic, black and white, there could be thousands of maroon colors, silvers,” says Cooper.

“You narrow it down from every car or truck imaginable, down to at least a class of vehicles, say a Honda, or a Toyota, or a Ford pickup, or something like that,” says Shepherd.