Elizabeth City · Elizabeth City Police Department
Getting Your Elizabeth City Police Department Crash Report
Inside Elizabeth City, North Carolina law makes the Elizabeth City Police Department the investigating agency, and the city publishes 252-335-4321 for that department. NCDMV holds its own copy once the department sends the report on, and you can order that copy on form TR-67A for $6.50.
North Carolina officers record crashes on the DMV-349, a form NCDOT publishes on its crash data page.
Below I cover the agency that writes an Elizabeth City report, the department's published number, the clock the statute starts, the boxes on the form, the copies that exist, and how a report is treated once a lawsuit is filed.
01
Elizabeth City police, the Patrol or a sheriff, by crash location
G.S. 20-166.1(a) names the appropriate agency by where the crash happened, and subsection (e) puts the investigation on that agency. Inside Elizabeth City the job falls to the city's police department. On Pasquotank or Camden roads beyond the city, the statute lists the county sheriff, the State Highway Patrol, and any other rural police that qualify for that county.
| Crash location | Agency the statute names |
|---|---|
| Elizabeth City, Pasquotank side | Elizabeth City Police Department |
| Elizabeth City, Camden sliver | Elizabeth City Police Department |
| Pasquotank or Camden County roads beyond the city | Pasquotank or Camden sheriff, State Highway Patrol, or qualifying rural police |
Reportable, in G.S. 20-4.01(33b), describes a motor vehicle crash that kills or injures anyone or leaves property damage totaling $1,000 or more. Any damage to a vehicle held under the seizure statute, G.S. 20-28.3, also qualifies. A driver in a reportable wreck has to alert the right agency at once, by the fastest means at hand.
Exception. A wreck where nobody is hurt and the damage stays below $1,000 is not reportable, so long as no seized vehicle is damaged. The call-the-police duty in G.S. 20-166.1(a) reaches only reportable wrecks.
02
Calling the Elizabeth City Police Department at 252-335-4321
Elizabeth City's contact page and its departments page both give 252-335-4321 for the Police Department. A question about a report from an Elizabeth City officer starts at that number.
Write down the basics first
Before dialing, gather the date, the time, the street and both drivers' names.
Ask how the department releases its copy
Ask whether the officer has finished the report and how people in the crash receive it.
Turn to NCDMV for the copy under its seal
The Division can issue a copy under its own seal once Elizabeth City sends the report along.
G.S. 20-166.1 speaks to a local agency's own copy in two places. Under subsection (e), nothing stops a police agency from handing the public a crash report, or the parts of one that are public records. Subsection (i) makes reports by officers public records that the general public may inspect at any reasonable time.
With the report in hand, if you want to talk it over, reach me in Graham.
03
24 hours to write it, 10 days to reach NCDMV
The officer who investigates gets 24 hours, counted from the wreck, to complete the written report, as G.S. 20-166.1(e) directs. A non-Patrol officer hands it to the local agency for that area, and from receipt that agency gets 10 days to send it on to the Division of Motor Vehicles.
A trooper skips the local step and files with the Division directly. With an Elizabeth City Police Department report, the NCDMV copy follows that forwarding step by the city.
Exception. If someone injured in a reportable wreck dies from it inside 12 months and the original report left the death out, the officer who investigated files a supplemental report adding the death, as G.S. 20-166.1(e) directs.
04
Boxes on the DMV-349 for an Elizabeth City wreck
The DMV-349, revision 4/2018, is the form NCDOT links from its crash data page. It captures the wreck, every driver and vehicle, the injured people and the reporting officer.
| Section of the form | What gets entered |
|---|---|
| When and where | Date, time, county, Local/Patrol Area, municipality, street, latitude and longitude |
| Drivers and pedestrians | Identity, vision obstruction, physical condition and suspected alcohol or drugs |
| Vehicles and owners | Plate, VIN, make, drivability and the officer's damage estimate |
| Insurance | Insurance Company and Policy # |
| Persons and EMS | Who was hurt, the EMS unit and where EMS took the injured |
| Vehicle information | Authorized speed limit and the officer's estimates of original traveling speed and speed at impact |
| Roadway | Road feature, surface, lanes and traffic control |
| Narrative and diagram | The officer's written account, a sketch with north marked, and witnesses |
| Officer and violations | Department, officer name and number, report date and any traffic violations |
Under G.S. 20-166.1(e), the report has to list financial responsibility details, meaning insurance, for the car of whichever driver the officer names as at fault. In my judgment an injured person reads the narrative and the sketch with the most care, since those carry the officer's own account of the Elizabeth City wreck.
05
The $6.50 NCDMV copy and the insurer's copy without certification
NCDMV sells a crash report copy prepared under the Division's seal for $6.50, the accident report fee G.S. 20-42(b) sets, through form TR-67A sent by mail or brought in person, with no online ordering for individuals. A person in the crash gets a redacted version, and NCDMV says to give a request 10 business days after it arrives.
| Version | Source | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Elizabeth City's own copy | Elizabeth City Police Department | Nothing in G.S. 20-166.1(e) bars releasing public-record portions |
| NCDMV copy under seal | NCDMV | $6.50 fee in G.S. 20-42(b), form TR-67A, redacted for individuals |
| Copy without certification, for an insurer | The officer who wrote the report | May be forwarded once the Division copy is requested and the fee paid |
The last row rests on G.S. 20-166.1(e). At the request of the driver, or of the insurance agent or company the driver identified, the officer may forward a copy without certification to that agent or company once given satisfactory evidence that the Division's copy was requested and the G.S. 20-42 fee was paid.
Under G.S. 20-42(b), a Division copy prepared under its seal is admissible in any proceeding in any court in like manner as the original.
06
An officer's DMV-349 as evidence in an Elizabeth City case
G.S. 20-166.1(i) lets an officer's DMV-349 be used as evidence in court, civil cases and criminal ones alike, to whatever extent North Carolina's evidence rules allow. A report filed by anyone else, other than a Civilian Traffic Investigator, gets different treatment.
The officer's DMV-349
Can be offered in court where the evidence rules allow it, and stays a public record anyone may inspect.
A report by anyone else
Without prejudice, reserved to the Division, and kept out as evidence at any trial, civil or criminal, that grows out of the wreck.
The officer's version is one account of the wreck and does not settle fault by itself. The Elizabeth City attorney page explains how G.S. 1-82 sets venue for a case from here, and our Elizabeth City crash statistics show what the 2024 counts measure.
Questions
Common questions
Does an Elizabeth City fender bender with no injuries need a police report?
Only when the wreck is reportable. G.S. 20-4.01(33b) sets that line at someone killed or hurt, or property damage totaling $1,000 or above. Below that line with everyone unhurt, G.S. 20-166.1(a) does not require a call to the police.
Will my Elizabeth City crash report name who was at fault?
Not as a finding. The DMV-349 has a box for traffic violations and records insurance for the driver the officer points to as at fault, yet a printed line on the form leaves fault decisions to insurers or to the state's courts. In a lawsuit, fault is for the court.
Can I pick up the NCDMV copy in person instead of mailing the form?
Yes. NCDMV takes walk-in requests at two counters, its Raleigh Central Services office and the plate agency in Huntersville at 12101 Mt. Holly-Huntersville Road. By NCDMV's account, someone who walks in wanting five or fewer records can leave with them the same visit.
About the attorney
Julian Doby, attorney since 1998
Julian Doby has been admitted to practice in North Carolina since 1998, North Carolina State Bar No. 25407, and he represents injured people across the state. His one office is at 110 W. Elm Street in Graham. He meets clients across the state after a first conversation by phone or video.
More about JulianSources and verification (10)
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 20-166.1(a), (e) and (i), ncleg.gov, verified October 18, 2026.
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 20-4.01(33b), reportable crash, ncleg.gov, verified October 18, 2026.
- NC Office of State Budget and Management, July 2025 Population Distribution of Municipalities Located in More than One County (Standard Population Estimates, Vintage 2025), verified October 18, 2026.
- City of Elizabeth City, Contact Us (Police Department 335-4321), verified October 18, 2026.
- City of Elizabeth City, Departments (Police Department, (252)335-4321), verified October 18, 2026.
- NCDOT, Crash Report Form DMV-349 (Rev. 4/2018), verified October 18, 2026.
- NCDOT, Traffic Safety, Crash Data (links the DMV-349 form), verified October 18, 2026.
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 20-42(b), $6.50 accident report fee, copies under the seal of the Division admissible in like manner as the original, ncleg.gov, verified October 18, 2026.
- NCDMV, Crash Reports (form TR-67A, redacted copies for individuals, processing time), verified October 18, 2026.
- NCDMV, Form TR-67A, Request for Motor Vehicle Information (Crash Reports), revised July 1, 2024, verified October 18, 2026.
Have your Elizabeth City report? Talk first.
Call or send a visit request. We start by phone or video, and then I can come to you.