Fatal shooting at police station investigated – Derbyshire Constabulary, October 2022

A man gained access to a secure car park in a police station. He had a knife and started to smash and damage the glass to the main entrance of the police station, as well as causing damage to parked vehicles.

Police officers used taser on the man, which was ineffective as the man was wearing a large, padded jacket. Officers spoke to the man, telling him to drop the knife, but he did not do so.

Armed officers arrived at the scene and non-lethal types of force were used to try to stop the man, all of which were unsuccessful.  These included a multi bang stun grenade, discharge of a baton round and further taser, along with commands for him to drop the knife.

The man began to walk towards a firearms officer with the knife raised above his head. He changed pace and ran directly at the firearms officer with the knife raised. The man closed in on the firearms officer, with the distance between them just over arms reach. The firearms officer discharged his firearm into the abdomen of the man, who fell to the floor in front of the firearms officer.

Immediate first aid was given by officers before paramedics took over. The man was taken to hospital but died.

We received a death or serious injury referral from the force and decided to independently investigate the nature and extent of police contact with the man, including the actions and decisions police officers made around their use of force and whether these were in line with local and national policies, procedures and guidance.

Our investigators went to the scene and conducted a detailed examination. More than 80 witness statements were taken from police officers, members of the public and others. Our investigation obtained and reviewed 235 items of footage, including CCTV, police officers’ body worn camera footage, and footage from the public, along with downloads from tasers, radio and telephone transmissions and experts reports.

We concluded there was no indication that a person serving with the police committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner to justify disciplinary proceedings.

We found that officers acted in line with relevant policy, procedure and legislation. They used verbal communication to engage with the man and appealed to him to drop the knife, before gradually escalating the use of force by using less lethal options. There was a threat to life, and officers acted appropriately in this circumstance, waiting until the last possible moment before discharging their firearm.

We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

We did not identify any organisational learning in this case.