Fatal collision - Cheshire Constabulary, July 2017

In July 2017, a Cheshire Constabulary traffic officer saw a car travelling at speed and reported it on the radio. The officer completed a U-turn and started to search for the car.

Approximately nine minutes after the first sighting, another officer located the car, which had collided with the central reservation on an A road. A passenger of the car was seriously injured during the collision and died as a result of the injuries sustained.

During the investigation, our investigators examined the footage from the police vehicles, reviewed the radio transmissions and 999 calls relating to the collision, as well as statements from both police officers and independent witnesses.

Evidence showed that the police contact with the passenger was brief, limited to the officer seeing the car in which they were travelling, reporting this on the radio and turning his vehicle. The evidence indicates that, by the time the officer had turned his vehicle, the car had overtaken other vehicles and the officer then lost sight of it. Within 30 seconds of first seeing the car, his attempt to find it took him in a different direction. There was no evidence available to suggest that the police sighting of the car may have caused or contributed to the collision that resulted in the death of its passenger.

Based on the evidence available, the Investigator found no indication that any person serving with the police may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.