LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — After a car crash happens, there are sometimes people who go out to determine what may have happened, and how it happened.
The Little Rock Police Department's accident reconstruction team is responsible for investigating those car crashes.
Kyle Henson is a patrol officer with LRPD but he is also one of the six officers who are a part of the team.
"Nationwide, fatal accidents are going back up in America and definitely in Arkansas," Henson explained.
The goal of the accident reconstruction team is to look into any life-threatening or deadly accidents that occurred on city streets.
They undergo 80 hours of training and learn the key things to look for when they are called to a crash to investigate.
"The first thing we do is just kind of step back and just take a look at the entire scene, what's going on, try to get some information of people involved," he said.
For example, they'll look for things like skid marks.
Officers will also measure to determine the speed of the vehicle and how far the car traveled before the crash.
"One of our officers will utilize a digital camera and start taking photographs," Henson said.
Though we're only a few months in, 2023 is already turning out to be a bad year for fatal crashes.
LRPD told us that the city is already up to 16 fatal crashes, at around the same time last year there were only five.