How iPhone Forensics Can Reconstruct a Pedestrian's Final Minutes in a Fatal Accident Case

In wrongful death litigation, understanding exactly what happened in the minutes leading up to a fatal accident can be the difference between justice and injustice. When a pedestrian is struck and killed by a commercial vehicle, questions immediately arise: Was the pedestrian distracted? Were they on their phone? Could they have avoided the collision? And critically — could the driver have seen them?

In a recent case involving a fatal pedestrian accident in a North Texas residential neighborhood, our firm was retained to forensically examine the victim's Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max. Through a detailed analysis of the device's internal databases and artifacts, we were able to reconstruct a second-by-second timeline of the victim's activities during her final walk home. The forensic evidence revealed that the victim was using her phone hands-free, that her device was locked and her screen was off before the moment of impact — and that a photo she took during her walk captured the very vehicle that would take her life just minutes later.

What Happened

On a summer afternoon in 2023, a 23-year-old woman was walking home from her neighborhood swimming pool in a quiet residential subdivision in Collin County, Texas. She was strolling along the sidewalk in her swimsuit, heading west toward her home on a suburban street populated with young families and children.

At the same time, a driver operating a 62,000-pound commercial garbage truck was making collection rounds in the same neighborhood. The truck was equipped with a "Curotto Can" — a large garbage collection receptacle mounted on a front hydraulic lift. When the receptacle is raised, it can completely block the driver's forward view through the windshield. The equipment manufacturer's own operator manual strictly warns against driving with the receptacle in a position that prevents optimal road visibility.

Dashcam video from inside the truck's cab tells the rest of the story. The footage shows the victim walking along the sidewalk, clearly visible ahead of the truck. She then enters the intersection via a pedestrian ramp, crossing with the right of way. As she walks through the intersection — visible for a full ten seconds — the driver activates the hydraulic lift, raising the collection receptacle to a position that completely blocks his view through the windshield.

Without slowing or braking, the truck continued forward. The victim had nearly completed her crossing — just inches from the curb in front of her own home — when the truck struck her. The right front tire came to rest on her body. The driver only realized what had happened when the victim's hat flew over the top of the raised receptacle.

The victim's mother came outside looking for her daughter and found her under the truck. She attempted CPR, but the injuries were unsurvivable. The young woman was 23 years old.

A lawsuit was filed alleging negligence, gross negligence, negligent hiring, negligent training, and negligent supervision against the driver and multiple corporate entities within the waste management company's organizational structure. The complaint alleged the driver had received inadequate training on operating the Curotto Can equipment, that the company had experienced numerous prior incidents involving similar equipment, and that corporate safety policies were not effectively communicated or enforced.

Our Role: The Victim's iPhone

Our firm was engaged by plaintiff's counsel to forensically examine the victim's Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max and determine the device's activity in the minutes surrounding the crash. The key question: what was the victim doing on her phone during her walk home, and does the evidence support or contradict any claim that she was distracted?

The police incident report estimated the crash occurred between approximately 4:15 PM and 4:20 PM. As we would discover, the iPhone's own sensors would tell a far more precise — and far more important — story.

The Forensic Process

The iPhone 13 Pro Max was received by our lab and a full file system forensic image was created using Cellebrite Premium. The forensic image was then processed using multiple industry-standard forensic tools including Magnet Axiom, Oxygen Detective, Cellebrite Physical Analyzer, iLeap, and Cell Hawk Analytics for location data.

Using multiple forensic tools is critical in mobile device analysis. Each tool parses different databases and artifacts, and cross-referencing results across platforms provides the most complete and accurate picture of device activity.

Reconstructing the Walk Home: A Second-by-Second Timeline

The forensic analysis produced a remarkably detailed reconstruction of the victim's activities from approximately 4:19 PM to 4:28 PM — a span of roughly nine minutes that tells an entire story.

Step and Distance Tracking

The Apple Health Steps artifact recorded approximately 485 steps taken between 4:19:04 PM and 4:24:02 PM — a period of about 4 minutes and 57 seconds. The companion Apple Health Distance artifact recorded those 485 steps as covering 354.19 meters (approximately 1,162 feet). When we measured the actual walking distance on a map from the neighborhood pool to the crash location, the distance was an estimated 1,131 feet — closely matching the Health data.

This correlation between the iPhone's pedometer data and the actual measured distance powerfully corroborated the victim's walking route and provided a precise timestamp for when movement stopped.

Music and Headphone Data

The forensic analysis revealed the victim was listening to music through headphones during her walk. The iPhone's headphone audio level artifacts recorded volume levels throughout, ranging from approximately 47 to 65 decibels. The music app logs showed she was listening to popular songs during her walk, with the last recorded audio level at 56.9 decibels.

This headphone data served two forensic purposes: it confirmed the victim was wearing headphones, and the continuous audio level readings provided additional timestamps that helped fill in the activity timeline.

Siri Dictation: Hands-Free Messaging

One of the most significant findings was that the victim's outgoing text messages were sent using Apple Siri voice dictation — not manual typing. The forensic artifacts clearly showed the com.apple.siri.dictation.message-sent event preceding each outgoing message.

Between 4:19 PM and 4:23:44 PM, the victim sent multiple messages to friends using Siri dictation, including a message announcing she was walking home and casual conversation about her day at the pool. The use of Siri dictation is significant because it indicates the victim was using her phone hands-free — she was speaking her messages rather than looking down at the screen and typing.

The Photo That Captured the Truck

At 4:21:55 PM, the victim took a selfie using her iPhone's rear camera. In the background of that photo, a garbage truck is clearly visible behind her on the street — the same truck that would strike and kill her approximately two minutes later.

Additional photos taken moments later at 4:22:47 PM and 4:22:49 PM showed close-up images of the victim's arms (she had a minor skin rash from the pool), which she sent to a friend via iMessage using Siri dictation. The GPS coordinates embedded in the photo metadata allowed us to pinpoint the victim's exact location at each timestamp, further confirming her walking route and pace.

The existence of this photo — showing the truck behind the victim well before impact — powerfully corroborates the dashcam footage showing the victim was visible and in the driver's line of sight long before the collision.

The Final Seconds

The timeline reveals a critical sequence in the final moments:

At 4:23:40 PM, the victim sent her last outgoing message using Siri dictation. At 4:23:44 PM, she sent one more brief Siri-dictated message. The screen turned off at 4:23:44 PM, and the device locked at 4:23:46 PM. The device was not unlocked again until two days later.

At 4:24:02 PM — sixteen seconds after the phone locked — the Apple Health Steps artifact recorded that motion stopped. This timestamp represents the moment of the collision.

After the crash, the device continued to passively record events: the screen turned on briefly (likely from the physical impact causing a "raise to wake" trigger), incoming messages and phone calls arrived but went unanswered. At 4:27:57 PM, an incoming call from the victim's mother went unanswered — she was already outside looking for her daughter. At 4:28:20 PM, the Apple Maps Trip artifact recorded its final location at the crash site coordinates.

Key Forensic Artifacts Used

This case demonstrates the wealth of forensic data available on modern iPhones:

Apple Health Steps and Distance — recorded the number of steps, duration of walking, and total distance traveled, providing a precise timestamp for when motion stopped at the moment of impact.

KnowledgeC.DB — Apple's device usage database that records screen on/off events, app launches, lock/unlock status, and other system events with precise timestamps.

Apple Siri Dictation Events — the com.apple.siri.dictation.message-sent artifact confirmed that outgoing messages were created using voice commands rather than manual typing.

Headphone Audio Levels — continuous monitoring of headphone volume provided timestamps and confirmed the victim was wearing headphones during her walk.

Photo EXIF Metadata — GPS coordinates, timestamps, and camera orientation data embedded in each photo, including the critical image showing the garbage truck behind the victim.

Apple Maps Trips — recorded the start location (neighborhood pool), end location (crash site), and timestamps for the walking trip from the device's local.sqlite database.

Significant Locations — Apple's location tracking artifact confirmed the device remained at the crash location from 4:28:20 PM until 7:09:46 PM.

Why This Analysis Matters

In pedestrian accident litigation, defense counsel will often scrutinize the victim's phone activity, looking for evidence of distraction to shift blame. Our forensic analysis in this case established several facts that directly countered any such argument:

The victim was using Siri voice dictation for messaging — a hands-free method that does not require looking at the screen. The phone was locked and the screen was off a full sixteen seconds before the moment of impact. The victim was walking at a normal pace on the sidewalk and through a crosswalk with the right of way. And a photograph taken during the walk captured the commercial vehicle that would strike her — proving both that she was ahead of the truck and that the truck had a clear line of sight to her.

Meanwhile, the dashcam footage from the truck itself showed the victim was visible in the intersection for ten full seconds before being struck — and that the driver had raised the collection equipment to a position that completely blocked his forward view.

Without a proper forensic extraction and analysis of the device, the detailed timeline evidence would have been lost. The police report estimated the crash at 4:15–4:20 PM, but the forensic evidence showed the actual moment of impact was at 4:24:02 PM — a difference of four to nine minutes that could significantly affect the timeline analysis of the vehicle operator's actions.

Lessons for Attorneys

Full file system forensic extractions are essential. A logical extraction or simple data download will not capture the depth of artifacts needed for this type of analysis. The Apple Health, KnowledgeC, Significant Locations, and Siri dictation databases require a full file system extraction using tools like Cellebrite Premium.

Multiple forensic tools should be used. No single forensic tool parses every database on an iPhone. Using Magnet Axiom, Oxygen Detective, Cellebrite Physical Analyzer, and iLeap together ensures the most complete picture.

Timestamps on police reports are estimates. In this case, the police report was off by approximately 4–9 minutes compared to the forensically determined time of impact. The iPhone's internal sensors provided a far more precise timeline.

Siri dictation artifacts distinguish hands-free from manual phone use. This distinction can be case-changing in distracted pedestrian or distracted driver arguments. Without forensic analysis, there is no way to know whether a text message was typed manually or dictated through Siri.

Apple Health data can pinpoint the moment of impact. The step counter stopping provides a precise timestamp that other evidence sources simply cannot match.

Photos can contain critical evidence beyond their subject matter. A selfie taken for personal reasons inadvertently documented the presence and proximity of the vehicle that caused the collision, corroborating both the victim's location and the truck's visibility in the moments before impact.

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Computer Forensic Services, Inc. (CFSI) is a veteran-owned digital forensics firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas, serving the legal community since 1997. We provide expert analysis of mobile devices, Call Detail Records, computer forensics, and expert witness testimony in state and federal courts. For more information, visit cfsiusa.com or call 214-498-5666.

This blog post was AI-assisted in its drafting and is based on actual casework and expert analysis by Lance Sloves.