Episode 35: Conversation with Don May (Investigator’s Perspective)

Don May:

Because you’ve got to get out there as soon as possible and gather those facts. The insurance company’s not going to gather them for you. You’ve got to have someone out there on your behalf.

David Craig:

On this episode, we’re featuring Don May as our guest. Don May is a friend of mine and a colleague. He and I have been working together at our law firm, Craig, Kelley, and Faultless for around 19 years. And, even before that, I knew Don as a state trooper.

This is After the Crash.

I’m attorney Dave Craig, managing partner and one of the founders of the law firm of Craig, Kelley, and Faultless. I’ve represented people who have been seriously injured or who have had a family member killed in a semi or other big truck wreck for over 30 years. Following the wreck, their lives are chaos. Often, they don’t even know enough about the process to ask the right questions. It is my goal to empower you by providing you with the information you need to protect yourself and your family. In each and every episode, I will interview top experts and professionals that are involved in truck wreck cases. This is After the Crash.

Don, first of all, welcome to the podcast.

Don May:

Well, thank you very much, Mr. Craig. It’s a pleasure being here today.

David Craig:

Let’s talk a little bit about your background, Don. I know you were in the military. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Don May:

Well, I was very lucky in life. More or less, God has led me in the right direction. When I was in the military, of course, we got married, had a child, and life kept getting better. As a military policeman in the service, we were assigned over into the West Germany area, and we were very fortunate. We lived on the fifth floor overlooking the Rhine River. It was like being on vacation. Like I said, it was a good duty for me, enjoyed it.

David Craig:

Tell us a little bit about your family. You’re married and you got kids and grandkids and great grandkids, right?

Don May:

Well, that’s, I believe, the best part of it, when you get lucky and get you a very special lady that takes good care of you and then give you three fine children. Then we received three grandchildren, and then we were lucky enough to have three more great-grandchildren. You smile from ear to ear when you’re around those type of kids. They make you feel younger and you’re tickled to death with it.

David Craig:

You started off in the military police. What was it that attracted you to law enforcement?

Don May:

Well, it was very simple, you felt like that was the best position that I could have put myself in because you enjoy helping people, and that’s the most important part of any police job of any kind is being there, helping the people in any way possible. If they’ve got a problem, you’ve got a problem, and you’re going to find solutions for those problems. You treat people like you’d like to be treated, and a lot of good positive things come out of something like that.

David Craig:

After you left the military, you didn’t start off in Indiana, did you? In the police, where did you go?

Don May:

Well, we had a misfortune with my wife. Her mother was sick, and they lived in Texas, and they only gave her so many years to live, so we loaded everything we had in a U-Haul trailer and we went to Texas. I was fortunate enough to work at the Waco City Police Department for that period of time. Then, when she passed away, which was a bad situation for us, but we also, at that point, applied for the Indiana State Police and was very lucky and fortunate to get accepted to their academy. It was a very good day when that happened also.

David Craig:

How long were you with Indiana State Police?

Don May:

Well, I was very blessed to have 25 wonderful years with them, and it was an opportunity that it was a challenge, but a challenge that you enjoyed.

David Craig:

I believe you worked out of the Connersville post, is that right?

Don May:

Yes, sir, worked out of the Connersville post, which I was very fortunate, again, they sent me to New Castle, which is the Henry County area, and I spent the full 25 years with the people of Henry County. You get to know people after a period of time like that, and you get to know their families, you get to know their parents, the children, and you’ve just become part of their family, which was another honor for me.

David Craig:

I know being an Indiana State Trooper, I have utmost respect for the Indiana State Police, but it can be challenging as well. What parts about the job did you enjoy the most?

Don May:

Well, once again, you get to help people, and you get in people’s lives where you make a difference, and you went home at night knowing that you accomplished a lot of things for that day, and every day you went to work, you wanted things to come out positive for everybody that you come in contact with.

David Craig:

After you retired from the Indiana State Police, we were fortunate enough here at Craig, Kelley, and Faultless that you joined us as a courier and investigator, and you’ve been with us nearly 19 years, and now you’re retiring. So, I wanted to be sure to have an opportunity to talk to you-

Don May:

Yes, sir. Appreciate it.

David Craig:

… before you actually vacated the building, and I’ve been honored to work with you-

Don May:

I appreciate that, David.

David Craig:

… and you’ve done such an excellent job. This podcast is designed for ordinary folks who don’t really know what they’re getting into. When one of these semi wrecks or a commercial motor vehicle wreck or big truck wreck, bus wreck, when one of these happens, the family’s lives are turned upside down, and oftentimes they’re dealing with the devastation and the heartbreak and the heartache of the aftermath of those crashes. So, all too often, they delay or wait to get involved in the investigation or to hire a lawyer, where the trucking company, the commercial motor carrier, and their insurance companies, they’re hiring people right away. They’re immediately starting to investigate it.

You’ve had opportunity to investigate with us, and I guess the first thing I would like to talk about is just should folks out there who have a loved one or their own family have been involved in one of these catastrophic wrecks with a semi, should they rely just on the police to do the investigation?

Don May:

Well, that’s one thing that I found out coming to work here at Craig, Kelley, and Faultless, that the best move that anybody could make that’s involved in an accident is to contact this law firm of Craig, Kelley, and Faultless because they’re going to take care of everything possible for you during a bad time for you and your family, that you’ll get the experts and you’ll get the representation that you need that you won’t get if you try to rely on your insurance companies. It doesn’t work that way with insurance.

David Craig:

Well, and I think people don’t understand. Oftentimes they think, “Well if the police did the investigation, we don’t need to rush out there. We don’t need to be in a hurry,” but, as you know, I mean police departments vary from state to county to city, and so talk a little bit about that.

Don May:

Well, what we’d like to do, and it’s great for our clients, that as soon as we’re notified, we can get out to that location of the accident, and we can take a look at the scene of the accident, we can see all those fresh marks and all the skid marks, the yaw marks or anything of that nature. You can get around that location right in that area and check for video. That’s very important to our case because not everyone will keep that video for a long period of time, so the sooner we get out there, the better. There’s been a couple cases where, if we’d been a couple days before, we’d have had the video, and that’s disappointing because those videos give us a lot of facts that are a benefit for our client. That’s very important that we get out there and get that information that we can get that you don’t get on a police report.

David Craig:

Would you agree with me, Don, that some police departments have more resources, they might have reconstructionists or they might have the equipment, and other police departments just don’t have the money? In a smaller city or a smaller county, they may not have a reconstructionist, but they may not have the resources to properly investigate the wreck.

Don May:

Well, and what I always saw when I was a trooper, these accidents are investigations. They’re not just fill-in-the-blanks, and some bigger departments, they’ve got resources where you can get down to the facts, where other smaller departments, they don’t have those type of resources or training. If you go out and you can tell by looking at the accident report, once you get to the scene, did this officer just fill in the blanks or was this an accident investigation from the scene, which is a benefit to everybody involved? We’ll do investigations. We’re not filling in blanks.

David Craig:

I’ve represented people all over the country, and it’s really shocking the difference in the quality of the investigation from police department to police department. Some are extraordinarily good, and others are very, very bad. These cases are humongous in the sense that the impact is humongous on these people and they need to make sure that the investigation is done right, and they’re not going to have the knowledge of which police departments are good and which ones are bad, so the safest thing to do is to hire a law firm that has the experience and the knowledge and the expertise to go out and do the investigation. If the police department is good, that’s great, you’re just checking them, and if they’re bad, at least you’re preserving evidence that otherwise may be lost if you don’t hire your own law firm to do their investigation.

Don May:

That’s exactly right, yeah, because you’ve got to get out there as soon as possible and gather those facts. The insurance company’s not going to gather them for you. You’re going to have someone out there on your behalf and you’re going to come out much better if you have Craig, Kelley, and Faultless with you representing you.

David Craig:

And you might be a little biased there, Don, but …

Don May:

Well, yeah, very, very true, but I’ve seen all these cases since I’ve been here for 19 years, David, and I see that the people that I’ve dealt with over that period of time have nothing but praise for Craig, Kelley, and Faultless, and it makes you feel good when you put out as much effort as this law firm does to represent them.

David Craig:

Well, thank you. Now, Don, I know that one of the key things we send you out to do as soon as we get hired, Clint Crabtree, he’s over our investigation section, and Clint, first thing he does is send you to the scene to look for video cameras and security cameras. Talk a little bit about that, because it’s amazing. When I first started 35 years ago, that wasn’t something we worried about.

Don May:

No, and that is fantastic information for you because those video machines don’t lie. They show you exactly what happened, who had the red light, maybe who had the green light, who was left of center and who wasn’t, and those are very, very important pieces of the puzzle for everybody’s benefit. The sooner we get out there to see if we can find those, and if we can get fortunate enough to get our hands on one, that helps a lot of things along way for us.

David Craig:

Tell me about that. So what do you do? There’s a wreck, let’s say there’s a wreck in the city, and we say, “Okay, here’s the address of the wreck,” so what do you do? How do you go about trying to figure out whether or not there are security cameras or not?

Don May:

Well, usually, you check the outside of the building if at all possible, see if there’s any cameras out there that you can see. Then to be sure, if you see some, or if you don’t see it, you always go inside and speak with someone that knows a little bit about the video cameras and tell them and explain to them what you’re there for, who you work for, and the reason why you’re looking for video. If they usually have any video, they’ll definitely let you look at them. They’ll even let you copy them. They’ll even email them to us.

People are very generous on this type of information that can help someone with the accident, because if it’s in that area there where they have cameras, they’re probably familiar with the accident. A lot of times, those folks that you’re talking to will tell you they remember that accident and they were standing outside when that occurred, or something of that nature, and that’s just another piece of the puzzle that you’re looking for. If you get other additional witnesses that’s got a good view, you get that video camera, things of that nature are all helpful to our client and get to those facts of what happened that day.

David Craig:

I know there’s been times when you’ve actually gone and they’ve actually let you watch the video, right?

Don May:

Yes, they have, and they’ve been very generous with that, and I carry a little disc in my briefcase that, if I’m able to get a copy of that at that time, then they’re very generous of letting us have that. One the other day, the lady that was in charge of the video wasn’t there, but some of the other employees were very helpful, and we left our information on the date of the accident and the time of the accident, and when she got back the next day, we got a copy of that. She was generous enough to email that to us, and now we’ve got a video of what happened. Like I said, with those videos, they’ll give you exactly what happened, and that’s what you’re after.

David Craig:

There are times where you go out there and when you are looking around that you don’t even see the cameras. Some cameras are visible, but then there’s been times when you’ve gone out and didn’t even realize there was a camera.

Don May:

Well, where you expect a camera sometimes, like the other day there, I was walking around and things of that nature, and that’s where I expected maybe some video cameras and they didn’t have any, and checking with the folks there at that location, they didn’t have a camera at all, but you go across the street, where you don’t see any cameras, and they’ve got cameras on both ends of the building that you didn’t see, but you still got to go in and check with these people because, a lot of times, those cameras are not visible. I know one here a while back, from over there at Richmond from a lumber yard area, they were quite a distance from the road, but their camera zoomed right down into that intersection, which was a surprise to me, but we were tickled to death to get it. Yes, sir.

David Craig:

Well, and we’ve been able to use those videos before. We had a wrongful death case where a box truck killed my client, and crossed the center lane, killed my client, and unfortunately, the owner of the truck, the trucking company, had deactivated the electronic control module, so there was no data for us to unload or download from the truck. We couldn’t determine the speed or braking or anything. So, it was convenient that, of course, they either intentionally or unintentionally disconnected that.

However, we were able to get a business and have video and see this box truck coming, and the reconstruction was actually able to determine the speed of that truck by looking at how long it took the truck to pass different landmarks, like a pole here and a light pole here. Because of how much time it took, we were able to determine the speed and show that this truck was going at an excessive speed. So, these videos can be critical. They can make or break a case, and I think you’ve seen, not every business keeps them forever. You have to get them.

Don May:

That’s exactly right. Some people will keep them for five days. Other folks will keep them a little longer. Also, when we’re in a residential area, a lot of homes now have doorbell videos, which is just as good as any business, and a lot of times, we get fortunate enough to get the copy of their video. You don’t know unless you knock. That’s very important that you knock because you take that extra step. You want to know for sure.

David Craig:

Again, 35 years ago when I started, you didn’t have these videos. Now, approximately what percentage do you think, have we gotten to 50/50 yet where there’s something captured on some type of video?

Don May:

I would say, in businesses now, I would say you’re probably maybe a little higher than 50%. It’s interesting, sometimes if we check, say, at a Dollar Tree or a Dollar General, at one time, they didn’t have any video equipment, but they’ve been robbed the last four or five times in the last two months and now they’re getting video cameras. A lot of businesses now are leaning towards the video cameras for the outside and also extremely for the inside.

David Craig:

Another thing you touched on is that oftentimes, when you’re actually out at the scene, because you go to the scene to look for these cameras, if it’s a really bad wreck and there’s businesses or houses near the area, oftentimes people will have some knowledge about the wreck.

Don May:

They will. They’ll be familiar with the accident, especially if they were home. Now, every once in a while, I was a little disappointed when they said, “Well, I remember the accident, but I wasn’t home at that time,” but a lot of folks say, “Yeah, I was home and I was out there trimming my flowers when that happened. I saw the whole thing,” and those are very helpful witnesses right there that’s not on that police report. A lot of times, you get more out at the scene that the police didn’t follow up on, that you’re out there two or three days later, then you accomplish a lot out at the scene for our clients.

David Craig:

What I remember, not that long ago, you and I were out in I think it was Terre Haute, and there was a wreck out on the highway, and there was a gentleman who lived back in one of the corners, and before I even arrived, or before my reconstructionist arrived or whatever, you had talked with him and he had information about the wreck.

Don May:

Yes, and that’s always very helpful. You don’t know unless you ask. I think he came to us, if I remember, and wanted to know a little bit what was going on. I think we explained to him and he was very, very helpful for what happened that day on that intersection up there. Yes.

David Craig:

One of the other things that we do, my focus is on commercial motor vehicle wrecks and heavy big truck wrecks, at least a lot of my practice now is devoted to that. So, for the last 19 years, you and I have traveled all over the state and all over the country just to do these inspections of trucks, and we’ve been out in the cold, we’ve been out in the rain-

Don May:

Rain, snow, heat, yeah.

David Craig:

… with sometimes spoiled produce, but you have to go wherever you have to go. I like to personally be involved, and I’ve always had you with me. Talk a little bit about what we do when we get out there to one of these inspections.

Don May:

Well, usually, when we’re going to something of that nature, we’ll have our experts with us also, and we’ve got the best in the business that’s doing the truck, from the front bumper all the way to the back bumper of the trailer, which is going to be a big benefit for the client, and also to try to get to the facts to see what happened. If everybody’s being honest that has anything to do with this truck, we’ll get that information right there from that truck itself.

Also, we’re out there looking in the cab and different things of that nature, taking pictures, to see if there’s anything there where maybe the driver maybe had maybe a video on the dash that we’re not aware of, and you’re just looking around the gentleman’s tractor trailer there, and looking to see if there’s anything there that will help to get to the facts. It’s, what, six, seven, eight hour day most of the time on these inspections, and like you say, it’s miserable weather, but we started and we’ve always finished there, and that’s good. That’s what it’s all about for us.

David Craig:

A lot of times, we’ll have, gosh, an accident reconstructionist, we’ll have a mechanic, we’ll have somebody who can download the ECM, electronic control modules, or the airbag module of the car if there’s a car involved, and then we have a professional videographer out there, and then we have you there overseeing everything and photographing, which not all law firms do it, but I like to photograph our experts doing their job, as well as oftentimes the defense experts are there. So, by photographing them, when we get ready to try the case, we can have exhibits made showing our experts doing their job and also working hand in hand with the other experts. It shows that they were there to make sure that everything was on the up and up.

Don May:

Right. Yes, sir, and things have always been on the up and up as far as I’m aware of, and those facts are what we’re gathering and those facts don’t lie, so that’s what we’re after. Like you said, we’ve got some of the best people and we don’t miss a thing when we’re there for that inspection, that we’ll have everything that we need to represent our client.

David Craig:

A lot of times, we’re overseeing all that, and, obviously, you get in, we’ll take pictures, you’ll get up in the cab of the truck and take pictures from looking out the view that the truck driver would’ve had. When you’re sitting up high in one of these big semi tractors, you have a different view than when you’re down in a car. So, we always want to capture that, so you always get up there and you’ll take pictures of the view out the windshield.

Don May:

Yes. You get a view of what that driver was seeing at the time of the accident, and you can just take a picture of everything in that tractor, from the cab all the way out to the front and look over that hood of that truck to see what was going on with the truck, with the driver, at the time of the accident. It helps, I think, tremendously to get a feeling about what happened.

David Craig:

Out of the 19 years that you and I have been working together, what have you enjoyed about your time here at Craig, Kelley, and Faultless?

Don May:

Well, with you, David Craig, this has been a very, very enjoyable situation. You and Mr. Faultless and Mr. Kelley and all the employees that we have that work together as a team, from the top to the bottom, there’s some great people here and they’ve all got one thing on their mind and that’s for the benefit of our clients. I always thought you become part of the family here at Craig, Kelley, and Faultless.  I’ve enjoyed the last 19 years, and here, shortly, I’m sure it’ll put tears in my eyes. It has been very enjoyable, but meeting some of our clients and you develop a relationship with them over a period of time, you become part of their family, and you hear compliment after compliment about Craig, Kelley, and Faultless from the very first time they called in and talk to the receptionist, just the way they were treated on their very first phone call to the very last contact that I usually have with them when we deliver the check to the client personally.

Because, like you told me one time, Mr. Craig, there’s two things you said to me, “No case too big, no case too small. We met you the first time, we’ll meet you the last time,” and everybody that works here has got their hearts in their position for the benefit of our client in this law firm. There’s no doubt in my mind, Craig, Kelley, and Faultless does the best job of anybody that’s in the business. With your leadership, everybody will do what it takes.

David Craig:

Well, I appreciate that, and I’ve got you on video, so I’m going to hold you to this, and I’ve been trying to talk you into just helping me, on occasion, on truck inspections still, right?

Don May:

Yes, sir. Yeah, I’ll do that because there’s no doubt I owe you and everybody here at the law firm. My whole family owes you a lot.

David Craig:

No, you don’t owe me anything, but I can’t imagine doing a truck inspection without you.

Don May:

That’s exactly right.

David Craig:

I can’t. I’ve been out there too many times in bad weather too, and sometimes we get out and get lucky and it’s nice weather.

Don May:

It is nice weather, but a lot of times, it’s hot, and Craig, Kelley, and Faultless always brings the water, bring the bottled water for everybody there, and they enjoy that also.

David Craig:

We try to treat people the way we’d want to be treated.

Don May:

That’s exactly right. This is a first-class operation from the top all the way to the bottom. I’ve never ate so much and be treated like royalty, you might say, yes, and my family all have been treated like we’re part of your family, David, and that means a lot to me.

David Craig:

What are you looking forward to the most about retirement?

Don May:

Spending time with my wonderful wife. She’ll enjoy it, I’m sure, but, yeah, it’s time with my great-grandkids and my own granddaughters and my own kids and things of that nature, because the great-grandkids are a little younger and they’re so enjoyable to be around, as you know, being a grandfather yourself with grandchildren. You think the best thing that ever happened to you was your own children, then you have grandchildren, and it just keeps getting better as you go through life. I’m 71 years old, and I’ve had a very, very, very good life, and a lot of that’s attributed to Craig, Kelley, and Faultless.

David Craig:

I think you and I both are blessed.

Don May:

Yeah, that’s very true.

David Craig:

We’re very blessed, and not only blessed in a lot of ways, but also blessed in having good wives.

Don May:

Well, we’ve been very, very lucky. Mrs. Craig has always treated me like a member of the family, and I know how she treats you. She takes very good care of you, but you take good care of her also, and that’s always been an example for Geordie and I. Yeah.

David Craig:

Well, Don, thank you so much for all the years that you’ve helped us at Craig, Kelley, and Faultless, and wish you nothing but the best in retirement, and thank you for being a guest on After the Crash.

Don May:

Thank you very much, Mr. Craig, and thank you and your whole family, and thank everyone here at the law firm of Craig, Kelley, and Faultless. They’ve made this a very enjoyable 19 years. A lot of good memories will leave when I leave this building.

David Craig:

Thank you.

Don May:

Thank you, David.

David Craig:

This is David Craig, and you’ve been listening to After the Crash. If you’d like more information about me or my law firm, please go to our website, ckflaw.com, or if you’d like to talk to me, you can call 1-800-ASKDAVID. If you would like a guide on what to do after a truck wreck, then pick up my book, Semitruck Wreck: A Guide for Victims and their Families. It’s available on Amazon, or you can download it for free on our website, ckflaw.com.