PC’s ‘serious errors’ in crash probe

The 52-year-old man from Leeds suffered a number of injuries, including nine broken ribs, a punctured lung, three broken vertebrae in his lower back, a collapsed disc at the base of his neck, a broken shoulder bone and a bruised heart after he was hit by a car.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) launched an investigation assessing Gloucestershire Constabulary’s response after a motorist called police saying she may have hit someone.

The woman was driving near Cheltenham Racecourse on March 16, last year – during the Cheltenham Festival – and phoned police from her home at 7.33pm to say her car had been hit by a bottle or a person as she was driving home along Evesham Road.

Following its investigation, the IPCC said it found the police constable had failed to carry out her duties, wasted time, discarded significant forensic evidence and demonstrated “reticence” to further inquire into the incident. But a police misconduct hearing concluded her actions did not amount to gross misconduct and she was given “management advice”.

She and a special police constable were assigned to the incident at 8.03pm after the woman motorist called police. They made a search of the area but did not find anything, so went to the woman’s home in Bishop’s Cleeve and questioned her and her daughter.

But the two officers then returned to the police station, where the police constable had a meeting at 9pm.

The special constable, however, believed the damage to the motorist’s car had indeed been caused by a collision with a person, and tried to persuade her they should continue to investigate.

Finally, they returned to the woman’s home to take her to the area where she said the incident had occurred so they could search again. At about 10pm, they found the man at the bottom of a steep embankment, some 12 metres from the road.

IPCC commissioner Rebecca Marsh said: “This poor man suffered terrible injuries and was found when he was because of the persistence of the special constable accompanying the police constable. He has since returned home to Leeds and has made a recovery.”

The IPCC said its investigation found evidence to suggest the police constable failed to carry out a diligent inquiry.

It added she had wasted time by failing to inquire with the driver as to the location of the incident prior to searching the wrong location, and had discarded significant forensic evidence found on the vehicle.

The watchdog said she had demonstrated reticence to further the inquiry despite the knowledge the incident had occurred at a different location to where she had previously searched, ignored the significance of the damage to the woman’s vehicle and she dismissed the special constable’s concerns which were factually and evidentially based. It concluded the PC had abrogated her responsibility for carrying out an expeditious and urgent enquiry to establish the scene of the incident in order to prove or disprove the concerns of the reporting person, and only returned to the scene to satisfy the special constable.

The investigation also found that a call handler had incorrectly graded the call, meaning it was not treated as an emergency response.

Gloucestershire Police accepted the IPCC’s view the officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct and convened a hearing, the IPCC said. Ms Marsh added: “The IPCC is the investigating body and does not have the power to determine the outcome of a police misconduct hearing.

“The police misconduct panel decided that the police constable’s actions did not amount to gross misconduct and she was given management advice.”

Assistant Chief Constable Ivor Twydell, of Gloucestershire Constabulary, said: “The officer concerned has expressed her deep regret at what happened and has admitted making mistakes.

“We found no evidence that she was in any way corrupt or is anything other than conscientious, but she did make some serious errors of judgement.

“We will learn from this, as an organisation.”