Man inflicted serious injury to himself during armed police response – Cleveland Police, September 2021

On 25 September 2021, Cleveland Police officers attended an address in Hartlepool following a report of a domestic incident. A woman made a 999-telephone call and reported that her husband made threats to harm them both with a chainsaw and was in possession of petrol. Firearms officers negotiated with the man for approximately thirty minutes until he poured petrol on himself and turned a lighter on to ignite the fuel. The man inflicted serious but not life-threatening injuries to himself. In an attempt to prevent the man from harming himself, a Cleveland Police firearms officer fired a baton round, a less lethal alternative to traditional bullets.

We obtained officer body worn video footage and radio transmissions. We also obtained and reviewed statements from Cleveland Police officers who attended the incident. All police officers were treated as witnesses and cooperated fully with this investigation.

Our investigation concluded there was no indication any Cleveland Police officer may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence. We concluded that the actions of Cleveland Police officers did not cause or contribute to the injuries sustained and the officers had a duty to protect the man from harming himself and the public.

We concluded our investigation on 20 December 2021.

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 did not identify any learning.