Collision between police car and pedestrian - Metropolitan Police Service, November 2017

On 10 November 2017 a marked police vehicle of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) responding to an urgent incident was travelling in a bus lane in north London with its blue lights and sirens activated. Just before it reached a junction, a man stepped out into the road and collided with the vehicle. The man sustained a fractured hip as well as cuts and bruises.

Because the man’s injuries were not initially thought to be serious, the incident was only referred to us at a later date. This meant that our investigators were unable to examine the scene immediately.

We obtained statements from the driver and passenger of the police car, as well as pocket notebook entries made by the driver at the time of the incident. We examined and interpreted data recorded by the vehicle with assistance from expert witnesses. Our investigators also examined MPS policies and procedures and checked the police driver’s training record. We consulted expert witnesses to determine whether the driver had followed both the training and policies correctly.

The collision report stated that the damage to the police vehicle was to the offside headlamp area. This was consistent with the reports of the police driver and passenger, who said that the man had emerged from behind a stationary vehicle on the offside, and collided with the offside of the vehicle. Evidence indicated that the police driver had had brief sight of the man before the collision and had attempted to veer away.

Based on the evidence available, we found no indication that any person serving with the police may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings, or had committed a criminal offence. We completed our investigation in October 2018.