Contact between a man and police before he died - Dorset Police, January 2019

On 22 January 2019 two Dorset Police special constables were on patrol in Bournemouth when their attention was drawn to a motorcycle by their automatic number plate recognition cameras. The officers turned their vehicle around with the intention of stopping the motorcycle and speaking to the rider.

The officers approached a busy roundabout and saw the motorcycle ahead, stationary in traffic. They pulled alongside to speak to the rider, who, when seeing them, made off across the roundabout. The officers lost sight of the motorcycle and commenced a search of the surrounding area. They decided to make enquiries with the registered keeper of the motorcycle and, en route, were diverted to an injury road traffic collision involving a motorcycle and a van. When they arrived, the officers recognised the motorcycle as the one they had seen some five minutes before. The rider was seriously injured and was later declared dead at the scene.

This matter was referred to us by Dorset Police. The officers involved provided us with statements concerning their contact with the motorcyclist. The incident was captured on the in-car video, which we closely examined. We prepared a chronology to assist the investigation. This enabled us to show that the motorcyclist was not being pursued at the time of the collision. The evidence indicated that the officers abandoned efforts to stop the motorcycle after losing sight of it at the roundabout.

Based on the evidence available we found no indication that any person serving with the police may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings, or had committed a criminal offence.

We completed our investigation in March 2019, but waited until the inquest into the man’s death had concluded, in autumn 2019, to publish its outcome. The coroner concluded that the man had died as a result of a road traffic collision.