Police pursuit ending in death of man – Metropolitan Police Service, February 2024

Traffic police officers tried to stop a car on a motorway after concerns it may be stolen. The car failed to stop and the officers lost sight of the vehicle. 

The car was discovered a short time later. It had crashed on its roof and the driver had been ejected from the car. The police, fire brigade and air ambulance attended but the man died at the scene.

We received a death or serious injury referral from the Metropolitan Police Service and decided to independently investigate the police pursuit. 

We investigated the decision to pursue, the authorisation of the pursuit, the manner in which the officers conducted the pursuit, and the first aid given to the man after the collision.

Our investigators went to the scene and conducted a detailed examination. We reviewed highways CCTV footage and police officers’ body worn camera footage. We analysed and compared this to vehicle-mounted camera footage, along with a download from the police vehicle’s incident data recording. 

We concluded there was no indication that a person serving with the police committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner justifying the bringing of disciplinary proceedings. 

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. 

We did not identify any organisational learning in this case.