I recently was in the relatively uncommon situation of being a primary witness to a car accident. Immediately after checking on the passengers (no one was seriously injured, and I wasn't qualified to provide any other assistance) and calling 911, it occurred to me that I had a trunk full of photography gear.


I considered pulling out the camera and getting shots of the scene before emergency vehicles moved everything around. It might have helped the police investigation or the insurance companies. Then I realized bystanders and potentially the victims would get the wrong idea and be offended... or worse, assume I was taking shots of the incident to further my own career by whatever means.


Is there a "standard" for being in such circumstances? Cursory googling indicates most photographers tend away from taking pictures at accident scenes. Is there potential liability to consider? Has anyone taken such pictures and in retrospect either been glad or regretted it?


I hope to never happen upon such a scene again, but I imagine the ethical implications apply to other situations as well.