Man injured during arrest - Nottinghamshire Police, December 2016
Nottinghamshire Police Officers pursued a car being driven dangerously on the A52, Derby Road, Nottingham, on 4 December 2016. The car came to a stop a couple of minutes later. The driver of the car stood in the sunroof of the car and threatened to throw a house brick at the police officers in the pursuing vehicle. He then exited the car and ran in the opposite direction. The driver in the police vehicle drove behind the man, and as the man turned behind a stationary bus, the police vehicle collided with him. The man was arrested for dangerous driving. He suffered from a broken knee cap, a twisted ankle and cuts and bruises
Our investigators were provided with CCTV footage showing the collision between the police vehicle and the man. We obtained witness statements, as well as a report from a police collision investigator.
During the investigation, there was an indication that the driver of the police vehicle had behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings and may have committed a criminal offence. We interviewed the driver under misconduct and criminal caution.
At the end of the investigation, based on the evidence available, the Lead Investigator was of the opinion that there was insufficient evidence upon which a reasonable tribunal, properly directed, could find gross misconduct in respect of PC the police driver for being engaged in a pursuit without obtaining the necessary authorisation from the control room at the earliest opportunity.
However, the Lead Investigator was of the opinion that there was sufficient evidence upon which a reasonable tribunal, properly directed, could find gross misconduct in respect of the police driver for continuing the pursuit in the police vehicle after the man had left his vehicle on foot; for driving a police vehicle directly towards the man, resulting in the vehicle running over him; and for removing the man from underneath the police vehicle with no regard to the injuries he could have sustained.
We concluded our investigation in October 2017.
We submitted a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for consideration of criminal offences. After reviewing the file, the CPS decided in February 2018 that the police driver should be charged with dangerous driving.
After reviewing our report, Nottinghamshire Police did not agree that the police driver had a case to answer for gross misconduct for the three allegations. Their view was that the driver had not deliberately run the man down, and that neither the collision report nor the CCTV evidence support findings of that nature. The force proposed to deal with the police driver’s performance under the Unsatisfactory Performance Procedure, stage 3.
We reviewed the force’s rationale, and did not agree that this matter should be dealt with as a performance matter. We recommended that disciplinary proceedings in the form of a misconduct hearing should be brought against the police driver, which the force accepted. Disciplinary proceedings were suspended until the trial had taken place.
In early 2019, the matter went to court, and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. It was settled at court that the police driver’s decision to pursue the man in the car in an attempt to cut off his escape by blocking him was legitimate.
Nottinghamshire Police reviewed their determinations in spring 2019 in the light of the judgement, and considered that the police driver’s manoeuvre had not fallen below professional standards to the extent it would be considered as amounting to misconduct or gross misconduct, and that it was a performance issue. They proposed to deal with the matter by way of management action, in the form of a reflective discussion between the officer and chief constable.
After reviewing their revised determinations, we agreed that their proposal was appropriate.