Road traffic collision causing fatal injury – Norfolk Constabulary, May 2022

In May 2022, Norfolk Constabulary armed officers spotted a Citroen car where police checks showed the car belonged to a man wanted for domestic and firearms incidents in Cambridgeshire. The man drove away from the officers and an authorised pursuit began on the A47 in Norfolk. During the pursuit, the Citroen drove over a ‘Stinger’ device and was then involved in a collision with an unmarked police car. 

After the collision with the unmarked police car, the Citroen drove into a drainage ditch, collided with the side of a farm access road and overturned. Norfolk Constabulary officers, the fire service and air ambulance staff provided first aid, but the man died six days later in hospital.

We attended the incident and obtained witness statements from the police officers and staff involved in the pursuit. We also secured and reviewed the in-car camera footage, body worn video footage, and radio transmissions relating to the pursuit, along with the police in-car data which showed the speed of the pursuing police car.

We obtained accounts from several independent witnesses who witnessed the collision with the unmarked police car and the concrete roadside track.

The investigation concluded there was no indication that any of the police officers or police staff may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence. All were treated as witnesses.

We concluded our investigation in October 2022 and shared our report with Norfolk Constabulary who agreed with our findings.  

We did not investigate the man’s death as that was a matter for HM Coroner.

In November 2023, HM Coroner held an inquest into the man’s death and concluded that he died of injuries sustained in a road traffic collision following a police pursuit in which he did not stand down.

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 we did not identify any learning.