Fatal injury during road traffic collision - West Yorkshire Police, December 2021

On 14 December 2021, two West Yorkshire Police (WYP) officers in an unmarked police car responded to a report of a burglary during which the homeowner had been stabbed and their car stolen. The officers sighted the car driving at speed and began a pursuit. The officer driving the police car illuminated the emergency lights, however, the car failed to stop and continued to drive away at speed. The officers pursued the car for less than a minute before it collided with a wall located on a bend in the road. The police car also collided with the same wall moments later but did not collide with the stolen car. The driver of the stolen car was ejected from it during the collision and sustained fatal injuries. 

We obtained accounts from the police officers and examined the police car camera footage, which captured the entirety of the pursuit. We also examined the audio recording of the pursuit, police body worn video, CCTV, the incident log, and other relevant documentation provided by WYP. We also examined the incident against local and national policy and guidance and found that all officers had complied with them all as per their training.

During the investigation there was no indication the officers may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence. There was also no indication that the officers’ decisions and actions caused or contributed to the collision, or the driver’s death. All officers were treated as witnesses and cooperated fully with the investigation.

We concluded our investigation in April 2022 and shared our report with WYP who agreed with our findings.  

The IOPC did not investigate the man’s death as that was a matter for WYP and HM Coroner.

In December 2023, HM Coroner held an inquest into the man’s death and the jury concluded that he man died due to a road traffic collision.

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 we did not identify any learning.