Chris Kelley
Professional Accident Reconstructionist/Partner – Klingen, Kelley & Associates
Christopher Kelley is a professional accident reconstructionist and Partner of Klingen, Kelley, & Associates based out of Midland Park, New Jersey. The firm offers extensive experience and expertise in all fields of motor vehicle accident investigation and accident reconstruction. They specialize in providing thorough and accurate accident evidence collection, documentation, and interpretation. They conduct detailed vehicle damage inspections and accident site inspections in order to analyze how the roadway and physical characteristics of the area may have had an effect upon the causation of the accident. When requested, They will provide our clients with a comprehensive written report addressing the various aspects of the vehicle collision in a clear and concise manner and will provide court accepted expert testimony at the time of deposition, settlement conference or trial. A goal of every assignment undertaken by Klingen, Kelley & Associates is to provide their client with the best possible technical support while respecting the overall project budget.
Chris is a retired law enforcement officer with over 25 years of experience in both patrol and investigations, dedicating much of his career to accident and crime scene investigations. As a law enforcement supervisor, Chris was charged with overseeing multiple specialized units, including Fatal Accident, Homicide, Arson, Cyber Crimes, Bias Crimes, and the Digital Forensics Laboratory. He was also a project manager responsible for the implementation of a multimillion-dollar evidence and discovery management platform.
Throughout his career, Chris has personally responded to and investigated well over 1,300 accident scenes and has conducted or supervised more than 600 traffic accident reconstructions. Since 2001, he has attended approximately 1,500 hours of instruction in the fields of accident investigation, traffic accident reconstruction, and crime scene analysis.
During his law enforcement career, Chris was responsible for investigating several serious accidents resulting from police pursuits. In 2020, Chris served as a consultant for the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office when the Police Pursuit Policy was updated. In 2018, he was assigned to perform a comprehensive review of the motor vehicle pursuit activity of a state agency operating in Bergen County, including a review of 41 pursuits which had occurred over a 44-month period. Ultimately, Chris was tasked with re-training the entire agency on the New Jersey Attorney General’s Police Pursuit Policy.
Chris has been fully accredited as a Traffic Accident Reconstructionist by the Accreditation Commission for Traffic Accident Reconstruction (ACTAR) since 2010. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree in Public Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University. In addition, he has completed law enforcement leadership training from the highly esteemed FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association and the New Jersey Chiefs of Police Command and Leadership Institute.
The New Jersey Police Training Commission certified Chris as a police recruit instructor in 2001, and he taught various topics to police recruit classes until his retirement in 2023. He has taught basic and advanced accident investigation and reconstruction techniques to a wide variety of public and private sector audiences. Chris taught at an international conference of 3D laser scanner users in Las Vegas, and was an invited panelist at a drowsy driving symposium hosted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington, D.C.
Chris has been a licensed motorcycle operator since 1994 and a Class B commercial motor vehicle operator since 2012. He brings with him vast experience operating emergency vehicles of all sizes. Additionally, Chris has been a member of the Westwood Volunteer Fire Department since 1995. He was Chief of the Department in 2011 and has been a qualified fire apparatus operator since 2000.
Throughout his career, Chris has amassed extensive experience and advanced training in the fields of commercial motor vehicle accidents, pedestrian/bicycle accidents, event data recorder analysis, and crash/crime scene mapping and diagramming. He is proficient at 3D laser scanning and is one of the primary users of our state-of-the-art crash analysis and simulation software. Chris has been qualified as an expert in New Jersey Superior Court in the fields of accident reconstruction, crime scene mapping, and 3D laser scanning.
Chris is currently the President of the N.J. Association of Accident Reconstructionists. He also served as the President of the Police Traffic Officers Association of Bergen County from 2017 to 2021. He is a member of the N.Y. Statewide Accident Reconstruction Society and the Pennsylvania Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Society.
In his spare time, Chris is an avid photographer, and enjoys boating and bicycling. In fact, he has ridden his bicycle numerous times from New York City to Washington, D.C. as part of the Police Unity Tour to raise awareness of Law Enforcement Officers who have died in the line of duty.
What is “Member Monday”?
Bergen County Chamber of Commerce, is excited to announce “Member Monday”! Every Monday we plan to highlight a Bergen County Chamber member by sharing an email blast containing either the member’s professional summary or an article written by the member about a topic within their industry. Every “Member Monday” email blast will contain the featured member’s contact information as well as a link to the member’s website. “Member Monday” provides value to our members by allowing them to highlight themselves in front of the rest of the chamber.
To be featured click the link below:
