James joined our company in 2025 and brought his decades of experience to grow the Southern division of Compass Consulting Engineers. He successfully ran his own forensic consulting firm, VeriCrash, for nearly 20 years before joining Compass. Prior to founding VeriCrash, James served in law enforcement in the Metro Atlanta region, where he specialized in traffic crash reconstruction and held supervisory and command responsibilities for a full-service traffic unit. James is a recognized reconstruction expert in all sorts of vehicle and related incidents, and he has maintained ACTAR certification for nearly three decades. During this time, he established himself as a leading authority in reconstructing vehicle incidents - heavy trucks and motorcycles in particular. If an accident involves either of these vehicle types, James is who you want.

James has over 4,000 hours of training from several educational institutions including the University of North Florida, Texas A&M University Transportation Institute, Northwestern University Center for Public Safety, Georgia Public Safety Training Center, Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, NAPARS, Society of Automotive Engineers, and reconstruction specialist associations in multiple states. This training has helped him develop expertise in, among other things, Heavy Vehicle Event Data, CDR, ADAS, ABS/Non-ABS/Air Brake Systems, Heavy Vehicle Mechanical Inspection, Advanced Commercial Vehicle Investigation, Human Factors, Damage Analysis, Unmanned Aircraft, Near Coastal Passenger Vessel Operation, Watercraft Crash Investigation, Motorcycle Crash Investigation and Pedestrian & Bicycle Accident Reconstruction.

James is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and an accomplished member of the faculty at the University of North Florida Institute of Police Technology and Management (IPTM). As a regular instructor at IPTM, he gives courses on Commercial Vehicle Crash Investigation, Pedestrian/Bicycle Crash Investigation, Motor Vehicle Crash Investigation, in addition to being the Program Coordinator for Motorcycle Crash Investigation. In a nutshell, James is the guy who teaches other experts in the field how it’s done.

James enjoys working on his family ranch in Central Texas, traveling, motorcycling across the country and in Europe, and spending time with family. When not on the go or ranching, James enjoys restoring old motorcycles and farm tractors.