Collision following a pursuit - South Yorkshire Police, May 2018

On 6 May 2018 at approximately 11pm, South Yorkshire Police officers were deployed to the Worsbrough area of Barnsley in response to reports of a drunk driver. Another vehicle, an Audi, sped past officers. They decided to attempt to stop the vehicle. The Audi failed to stop and a pursuit began. The pursuit lasted two minutes and 43 seconds. At the end of the pursuit, a second patrol car called up on the radio that the Audi had collided with a man, who was seriously injured.

We received a death or serious injury referral from South Yorkshire Police on 8 May 2018 and started an independent investigation.

Our investigators analysed the dash-cam footage from the police vehicle, airwave transmissions, accounts from those involved and incident logs, and compared them against local and national pursuit policy and guidance.

We found that the actions of South Yorkshire Police were in line with the applicable policies and procedures. The evidence indicated that the police driver continually risk assessed the pursuit.

The investigation found no indication that any person serving with the police may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.