Man died shortly after his arrest for driving while intoxicated – Lincolnshire Police, December 2022

In December 2022, a man was driving a heavy goods vehicle which left the carriageway on the A1 at Colsterworth and ploughed through a hedgerow before coming to rest in a field. Police officers attended and arrested him on suspicion of driving with excess alcohol.

When officers arrived at the incident scene they observed only minimal damage to the HGV exterior, the air bags had not deployed, and the man had no visible injuries. Officers stated that they asked the man if he had any injuries and he replied not. The man was able to exit the vehicle and walk to the police van unassisted. He gave a positive breath test for alcohol and officers correctly exercised their powers to arrest him for drink driving. 

The man was then taken to Grantham Police Station where his detention was authorised at shortly after 5pm. About half an hour later he collapsed in the custody booking in area and was provided with basic first aid by officers and a health care professional while an ambulance was requested. An ambulance took him to the Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, but sadly he was pronounced dead there at about 8.40 that evening.

We began an independent investigation the day after following a mandatory referral from Lincolnshire Police. All police officers were treated as witnesses during our investigation.  

The man had a medical episode shortly after arrival at custody. We found officers responded promptly to call an ambulance, provide first aid and request a health care professional, in line with their training and guidance for medical emergencies. 

A post-mortem later found his medical cause of death to be due to an abdominal haemorrhage sustained in a road traffic collision, and alcohol intoxication. The man is believed to have sustained the abdominal injury as a result of his stomach impacting the steering wheel during the collision, prior to the arrival of police officers. 

During the investigation, our investigators reviewed dash camera footage from a vehicle travelling behind the HGV prior to the collision along with CCTV footage from the custody suite. We examined accounts provided by the relevant police officers, the ambulance service, and from an independent witness. The investigation also referred to the report completed following the post-mortem examination.

Our investigation found that officers could not have known the man had suffered an intra-abdominal bleed in the accident, as this would have only become apparent from specialist medical testing and expertise. 

At an inquest in Lincoln which ended in November 2023, the Coroner returned an outcome that the man died as a result of a road traffic accident. 

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. 

In this case, the investigation has not identified any learning.