Cleveland Police officer cleared of driving without due care and attention

A Cleveland Police officer charged with driving without due care and attention following an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation has been found not guilty following a trial at Teesside Magistrates Court.

PC David French denied the charge during an earlier hearing at Teesside Magistrates Court on Friday 25 November 2022 and at a hearing yesterday (13 June), a judge found the case to not be proven.

Our independent investigation, following a referral from Cleveland Police, began after an incident on 22 May 2022 when PC French was driving a marked police van on Grewgrass Lane in Marske, and collided with a Vauxhall Corsa.  

While giving her verdict yesterday, the judge said whilst PC French had been distracted and this resulted in the collision, his actions did not reach the criminal standard of proof.

On conclusion of our investigation in October 2022, we referred a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which authorised the charge.

During the course of the investigation, we reviewed body-worn video from the police officers who were in the police van. We also obtained statements from witnesses and interviewed the officers present at the time.

We established that PC French was one of two officers responding to a report of an abandoned quad bike on Grewgrass Lane and once it was recovered, he returned to the police van to leave.

The police van was then involved in a collision with a Vauxhall Corsa, which resulted in the occupants, an 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl, suffering serious injuries.

PC French provided an initial account in which he said the police van was stationary when the collision occurred. After a review of body-worn video footage, Cleveland Police referred the incident to us and PC French later admitted the police van had pulled out onto the road before the collision.

IOPC Regional Director Emily Barry said: “My sympathies remain with the two young occupants of the Vauxhall Corsa, who sustained serious injuries, and all those affected by the incident in May 2022.

“This incident has had a profound impact on the lives of these young people and their families, and this is something they will have to live with for many years to come.

“Given the seriousness of the allegation, it was right for the evidence to be tested in a public court. It was a matter for the judge, applying a far higher evidential threshold than the one we must use when considering referral to the CPS, to determine whether PC French drove without due care and attention, and I am grateful for their careful consideration of this case.”

We found PC French, whose conduct was also under investigation, had a case to answer for gross misconduct in relation to his driving prior to the collision. It will be for Cleveland Police to arrange a disciplinary hearing in due course.