Police pursuit before road traffic incident - Cheshire Constabulary, November 2020
On 13 November 2020, officers from Cheshire Constabulary attended an address in Handforth following reports of an attempted burglary.
Whilst carrying out an area search, an officer saw a car which they followed. The car accelerated away from the police car and a pursuit was declared. After a short pursuit, lasting less than two minutes, the car crashed into a wall.
First aid was given to the two occupants but the driver died as a result of the injuries sustained in the crash.
Our investigators attended the scene and carried out house to house enquiries in the area. Investigators reviewed CCTV footage, in-car camera footage, police officers’ body-worn camera footage and the radio transmissions from the pursuit. Witness accounts were obtained from the passenger of the vehicle that crashed, members of the public and officers who attended to provide first aid. We reviewed and analysed accounts from the police drivers involved in the pursuit, and compared data from police vehicles, officer training records and police driving guidance.
During the investigation there was no indication any police officer may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence.
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 identified learning in respect of defibrillators being provided within every Roads and Crime Unit Vehicle.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that Cheshire Constabulary ensures all Roads and Crime Unit vehicles are equipped with defibrillators. If the fleet is expanded further, the IOPC recommends that all relevant equipment is obtained and fitted or placed into the vehicle before it enters use.
This follows an IOPC investigation into a police pursuit involving two Roads and Crime Unit vehicles which ended in a collision. Neither of the vehicles involved in the pursuit were equipped with defibrillators. As a result, a defibrillator could not be used until one was brought to the scene by Fire and Rescue Service officers a number of minutes after officers requested one. This was because the fleet had increased in size, so there were not enough defibrillators to go in each vehicle.
Cheshire Constabulary have confirmed that the matter has been rectified and now all of Cheshire Roads and Crime Unit vehicles carry defibrillators.
Accepted:
For reassurance all Cheshire Roads and Crime Unit vehicles now carry defibrillators having been remedied immediately after this incident. Measures have been put in place with the Fleet Management team to ensure all vehicles on issue will have defibrillators available before deployment and use by operational officers.