Man dies following contact with police - North Yorkshire Police, June 2016

On 14 June 2016 at approximately 7.30am, a quad bike was reported stolen to North Yorkshire Police (NYP) from the Keld area of North Yorkshire. Officers located it at around midday, hidden in a forest. NYP planned an operation to arrest the suspects when they returned to collect the quad bike.

At approximately 2.40pm, a vehicle containing three people arrived to recover the quad bike. The vehicle and the quad bike left the scene and were kept under observation by two officers in an unmarked transit van. They lost sight of the quad bike en route to the A66.

A number of officers stopped the vehicle and arrested the two occupants. The quad bike was seen again by officers, who maintained observations from the transit van. Plans were made to deploy a stinger (tyre deflation device) in order to prevent a pursuit developing. A police helicopter was also observing the quad bike. As the bike was heading in the direction of the Durham Constabulary force area, NYP notified the Durham Constabulary control room.

The stinger was deployed. However, the quad bike evaded it and a pursuit developed, involving three NYP vehicles. During the pursuit, significant issues were experienced with the communication channels. Eventually these were resolved. As the quad bike rode through the village of Ingleton, a Durham Constabulary police car was approaching from the opposite direction. It would appear that, in an attempt to evade the police car, the quad bike rider lost control and collided with a lamp post, which resulted in his death.

During the investigation, our investigators examined all video footage from this incident and reviewed all airwave transmissions from NYP and Durham Constabulary.

All officers involved in this incident were treated as witnesses.

At the end of the investigation we were of the opinion that, although the quad bike rider’s interaction with the police during the pursuit phase may have influenced his manner of driving, the available evidence did not support any assertion that the police may have caused his death. It was also our view that there was nothing officers could have done to prevent the quad bike rider from crashing. Two officers were the first to provide medical assistance to the rider in an attempt to save his life.

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

We completed our investigation in February 2017, but waited until the inquest into the quad bike rider’s death had taken place, in February 2019, to publish our findings.