Investigation into contact between police and a Fiat Punto prior to a road traffic collision - Greater Manchester Police, April 2021

On 19 April 2021, a Fiat Punto passed two police officers at speed on the M60 motorway. The officers decided to covertly follow the car, to gain further information.

A request was made for the Fiat Punto to stop, however it failed to do so. The Fiat Punto continued to drive at speed, eventually colliding with a stationary vehicle. This collision led to the Fiat Punto further colliding with two parked vehicles and being forced onto its right side.

The driver of the Fiat Punto was assisted from the car by police and was treated at the scene, however, subsequently died.

During our investigation, we examined a large quantity of body worn video and CCTV and obtained duty statements from officers who attended the scene. We also obtained witness accounts and assessed policies and procedure and legislation relevant to road traffic regulations in a policing context.

We finalised our investigation in November 2021.

We determined there was no indication that a person serving with the police committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner justifying the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.

We waited for all associated proceedings to be finalised before publishing our findings.

We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

We did not identify any organisational learning.