Collision following pursuit - West Midlands Police, January 2018

On 7 January 2018 at approximately 4.25pm the driver of a black Ford Fiesta failed to stop for West Midlands Police officers travelling in the Yardley Wood area of Birmingham in an unmarked vehicle with its lights and sirens activated.

A pursuit commenced and was authorised by the force control room at 4.26pm. The pursuit was assessed as low risk. At 4.27pm the pursuit was abandoned as officers came across a pedal cyclist, who had been hit by the Ford Fiesta. The driver of the Ford Fiesta failed to stop following the collision. The cyclist was taken to hospital with serious head injuries.

Our investigators were deployed to the scene and to the post-incident procedure. We opened an independent investigation on the night of the incident.

We gathered a number of witness statements and pieces of CCTV from the parallel police investigation into the driver of the Ford Fiesta. The driver and passenger of the police vehicle and members of the police control room provided witness statements to the investigation. We also analysed in-car footage and CCTV footage of the pursuit, alongside policy and training documents.

We found no evidence to suggest that WMP caused or contributed to the serious injury suffered by the cyclist. While still in pursuit at the point of the collision, the police vehicle appeared to have been at least five seconds behind the Ford Fiesta and was not in view of the collision when it occurred. The driver of the Ford Fiesta later pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Based on the evidence available, we found no indication any police officer had behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or had committed a criminal offence.

After reviewing our report, West Midlands Police agreed with our findings.