Contact with police prior to a man’s death - Suffolk Constabulary, October 2018

At 4.34am on 14 October 2018, Suffolk Constabulary received a call from a woman saying she had seen a man lying in the road on the westbound A14 carriageway, Felixstowe to Suffolk. At 4.38am the control room dispatched a Bury St Edmunds Police unit to the incident.

At 4.38am, a police vehicle, which had not been dispatched to the incident, was travelling along the A14, en route to Bury St Edmunds Custody with a detainee. The officers travelling in this vehicle witnessed the vehicle in front of them swerve unexpectedly, and it appeared to make impact with something in the road. The police vehicle also made impact with the body lying in the carriageway. Both vehicles stopped at the scene.

The police made attempts to alert other road users to the incident. However, an ambulance was also unable to avoid colliding with the body. The ambulance also stopped at the incident, where the man was declared to be dead.

The police driver underwent a breathalyser and drug test, both of which he passed.

The post-mortem concluded that the man had died from significant head trauma resulting from a road traffic collision.

During the course of the investigation we obtained statements from the man’s family and from the friend the man had spent the evening with on 14 October. We also obtained statements from drivers and passengers involved in the incident, as well as from witnesses. Investigators also considered relevant reports, including the Serious Road Collision assessment report, radio transmissions, the post-mortem report and the toxicology report.

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 December 2018, but waited until the inquest into the man’s death had taken place, in summer 2019, before publishing its outcomes.