Personal Observations of a Police Officer Deemed Lay Testimony

The defendant-appellant appealed his conviction for failure to yield the right of way after a trial de novo in the Law Division, arguing that the responding officer provided impermissible expert testimony, among other arguments, for the appeals court’s consideration. The officer testified based on his personal observations of the damage to the passenger side of one of the vehicles involved in the motor vehicle accident, where the defendant sideswiped the other vehicle while attempting to make a left turn into the intersection. The court relied upon State v. LaBrutto, in which the Supreme Court stated that courts in New Jersey have permitted police officers to testify as lay witnesses based on their personal observations and their long experience in areas where expert testimony might otherwise be deemed necessary. The court determined that the responding officer’s testimony was that of a lay witness as it was based on his personal observations. 

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