Man sustains serious facial injuries in road traffic incident – Metropolitan Police Service, January 2025

Three officers were driving in slow moving traffic in an unmarked police car. They noticed a car driving aggressively and making unwarranted manoeuvres to move forwards in the traffic. 

The officers checked the car’s details on the Police National Computer. The registered owner was known to the police, with markers for weapons and drugs. The officers decided to stop the car to speak to the driver. They activated their emergency warning equipment and indicated for the car to pull over. 

The car pulled over and came to a stop. An officer spoke to the driver. The driver then accelerated forwards, hitting a parked car and flipping the car onto its side. 

The driver climbed out of the car window covered in blood. Officers moved the man onto the pavement and called an ambulance. The officers tried to detain the man, believing he was reaching for a weapon, but the man resisted. 

Two officers in a nearby marked police car witnessed the crash and arrived to assist. The initial officers were able to handcuff the man, who was now struggling to breathe and had sustained serious facial injuries. 

The man was given medical assistance by the ambulance crew and taken to hospital. He had serious facial injuries, including fractures and required facial reconstruction surgery. He was later released from hospital and charged with drug possession and failing to stop. 

We received a death or serious injury referral from the force. We decided to investigate the circumstances surrounding the road traffic accident, including whether the actions of the police were in accordance with legislation and local and national policy and guidance, whether any force used was reasonable, and whether the actions of the officers may have caused or contributed to the man’s injuries. 

We obtained statements from the officers, reviewed local CCTV, body worn video footage and incident logs, and considered the results from the incident data recorder. 

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

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.