Metropolitan Police Service officer dismissed after causing death of pedestrian by careless driving

A Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer, who caused the death of a pedestrian by careless driving, has been dismissed without notice following a disciplinary hearing.

The outcome follows our investigation.

At an accelerated hearing, organised by the force and chaired by acting deputy commissioner Helen Ball, gross misconduct allegations were found proven against police constable Daniel Francis, 33, who was attached to the West Area Command Unit. He will also be placed on the police barred list, meaning he cannot work again in policing.

The hearing, held on Wednesday 13 April, was told that at around midnight on 1 November 2019 in Whitton Road, Hounslow, west London, PC Francis was driving a marked police car.

He was accelerating to catch up with another vehicle he had seen throw a firework out of its window when he was in collision with pedestrian Andrew MacIntyre Brown, 23, and a 16-year-old boy on a zebra crossing.

Mr Brown was taken to hospital and sadly died from his injuries on 5 November 2019. The boy suffered serious injuries in the collision and taken to hospital.

PC Francis admitted he had not used lights or sirens and our investigation found that he was travelling at 61mph and approached the pedestrian crossing outside Hounslow railway station when the people who were crossing had right of way. At the time of impact, the speed of the police car was 54mph.

IOPC regional director Sal Naseem said: “I offer my sincere condolences again to the family of Andrew MacIntyre Brown at this time. The public expects police officers to respond to incidents immediately, but they are required to consider the safety of other road users.

“The evidence indicated that PC Francis did not have sufficient regard to other road users when driving along that part of the road. The nature of his driving involved a greater risk than necessary and meant a collision was sadly unavoidable.”

The IOPC investigation began in November 2019 following a referral from the MPS and examined the circumstances of the accident and the speed and manner of PC Francis’ driving.

During the investigation, investigators interviewed PC Francis twice under criminal caution and served the officer with a notice of investigation for gross misconduct. Investigators took statements from two other officers present in the police vehicle at the time of the collision, obtained expert evidence from a forensic collision investigator, reviewed CCTV, body worn video footage and information from the police car data recorder.

At the end of our investigation, we passed our findings to the Crown Prosecution Service who after reviewing the evidence decided to bring a charge of causing death by dangerous driving.

PC Francis admitted causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 7 December 2021. He was later sentenced on 4 February 2022 at the Central Criminal Court and given a 12-month jail sentence suspended for two years. He was also ordered to complete 240 hours of unpaid work, 20 days rehabilitation activity, and given a four-month electronic curfew. He was suspended from driving for 18 months and will be required to take an extended test.

* At an inquest, which ended on 18 November 2022, a jury concluded Mr Brown died as the result of a road traffic collision.