Non-fatal police shooting - Dorset Police, August 2018

On 2 August 2018, a Bournemouth man was named as the suspect in an offence of grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent. Police intelligence suggested that he had access to firearms, and accordingly a team of plain clothes surveillance and firearms officers from Dorset Police and another force was deployed to locate and arrest him.

On 7 August 2018, surveillance officers reported that the suspect was the rear-seat passenger in a black car being driven by someone else, heading east on Wimborne Road.

The officers followed the vehicle, and at 8.19pm, as the vehicle approached a roundabout, the Operational Firearms Commander (OFC) authorised firearms officers to stop the vehicle.

During the stop, an armed officer placed their hand on the handle of the driver’s door to open it, at which point the vehicle moved off. The vehicle’s movement caused the officer to involuntarily discharge their already drawn pistol through the car window, with the bullet hitting the driver in the arm. Officers began to give the injured man first aid immediately after the shooting, prior to the arrival of paramedics. The officers then arrested the suspect (the passenger) on suspicion of GBH with intent, and conveyed the driver to hospital.

Our investigators attended the scene and undertook a detailed examination. We also obtained accounts from police officers and members of the public, and reviewed contemporaneous written records generated during the covert operation.

The officer who fired the shot into the vehicle stated that the firearms discharge that caused the injury to the driver was unintentional, and occurred only because the driver had driven forwards and rammed the police vehicle.

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 December 2018, but waited for the outcome of possible criminal proceedings concerning the driver of the vehicle, which have now been discontinued, before publishing this investigation summary.