Pedestrian injured after being struck by police car - West Yorkshire Police, November 2018
At 12.09pm on 21 November 2018, a West Yorkshire Police officer responding to an incident was driving an unmarked armed response vehicle in Leeds. As the police car overtook vehicles, the driver failed to respond in sufficient time as a black car started to turn right in front of it. The two vehicles collided. The police car veered off to the right, mounted the pavement and struck a pedestrian, who sustained serious injuries.
Our investigators obtained statements from the passenger in the police car and the driver of the black car. They also reviewed the footage from the police in-car video system and interviewed the driver of the police car.
Throughout the investigation the investigator considered that there was an indication that the police driver may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence.
The available evidence indicated that the police driver could have avoided the collision.
Based on the evidence available, in our opinion, the police driver drove in a manner and at a speed that were neither justified nor proportionate in the circumstances. We were also of the view that, as a trained advanced driver, the police driver should have displayed a markedly higher level of hazard perception than an untrained driver, particularly while engaged in a response drive, and that they had not extended their driving skills beyond that of a careful and competent driver.
Given the evidence obtained by the investigation and the seriousness of these identified potential breaches of the Standards of Professional Behaviour, in our opinion there was sufficient evidence that a reasonable panel, properly directed, could find that the police driver had a case to answer for gross misconduct.
We completed our investigation in April 2019.
We also submitted a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in April 2019 to consider whether the police driver may have committed a criminal offence.
After reviewing our report, West Yorkshire Police agreed that the police driver had breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour. However, the force disagreed as to the severity of the misconduct proceedings. The force’s view was that the police driver’s actions had not been deliberate, targeted, planned or intentional, but rather the opposite: the police driver had made the wrong decision in a fraction of time. West Yorkshire Police’s opinion was therefore that the police driver had a case to answer for misconduct, and should receive management action involving further training in the form of a driver refresher course, to provide an opportunity for reflection and learning.
We considered the proposed actions of West Yorkshire Police and agreed that their proposal was appropriate.
In May 2019, the CPS made the decision to charge the officer for the offence of driving without due care and attention. The officer appeared in court in October 2019 and was found not guilty of this offence.