Police had no realistic opportunity to prevent the death of a 16-year-old who fell from the Foyle Bridge in Derry/Londonderry in 2009, a report by the Police Ombudsman has concluded.
The male youth had been reported missing from the Gransha Psychiatric Hospital in the city at around 4.15am on 30 July 2009. A window in his hospital bedroom was found to be broken.
As with all incidents in which someone dies shortly after contact with the police, the incident was referred by the Chief Constable to the Police Ombudsman for independent investigation.
During their investigation, Police Ombudsman investigators interviewed police and civilian witnesses, and reviewed relevant police documentation, radio transmissions and medical evidence.
They established that police had made enquiries during the night in an attempt to find the youth, but he was not located until shortly after 9am the following morning when a member of hospital staff spotted him on the Foyle Bridge.
A police patrol happened to be crossing the bridge at the time and was tasked to assist. They drove towards the scene without activating their sirens or warning lights to avoid causing alarm, parked a short distance from the youth and then began to approach on foot.
As they did so, the youth climbed over the railings at the side of the bridge. Two civilian witnesses told Police Ombudsman investigators that, having climbed over the railings, the youth appeared to slip before falling into the river below. They said he fell before the three police officers at the scene could get to him.
The officers said that at the moment the youth fell they were separated from him by the pavement and railing. They then went to the bottom of the bridge and pulled the youth from the water, and provided first aid until the arrival of an ambulance.
The youth was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene, and a post mortem concluded that he had died of multiple injuries consistent with a fall.
Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson said the three officers had been faced with "a fast moving, dynamic incident which provided none of them with a realistic opportunity of preventing [the youth] from falling from the bridge."
An inquest on 22 July 2011 also concluded that the youth's death had been accidental.