A police officer has been found guilty of Causing Death by Careless Driving and been disciplined by the PSNI following an investigation by the Police Ombudsman’s Office into a fatal road traffic collision in Ballybogey, Co. Antrim in December 2009.

 

The Ombudsman was called in by the PSNI to examine the circumstances of the incident in which a police vehicle and a Renault Clio collided, resulting in the death of the passenger of the Clio.

 

The investigation established that at approximately 3.30am on the 20th December 2009 the driver of the Clio failed to stop when asked to do so by police in a patrol vehicle.  The police then travelled behind it at a safe distance whilst alerting other police vehicles in the area.

 

Police Officer A was driving one of these vehicles when he spotted the Clio driving in the direction of Portrush.  He began to pursue it.  The pursuit continued for two miles, coming to an end when the vehicles collided on the Ballybogey Road.

 

Ombudsman investigators obtained statements from the police, ambulance service staff and a lorry driver in order to establish the circumstances of the accident.  There was no CCTV coverage of the incident.  They also spoke to a member of the local council who confirmed that a decision to grit the Ballybogey Road had been taken at around the same time as the accident as a precautionary measure because of adverse weather conditions at the time.

 

The Senior Forensic Scientist who attended the scene compiled a report, which stated that in his opinion the driver of the Clio lost control as he attempted to negotiate a long, sweeping right bend in the carriageway, and that it travelled onto the hard shoulder before coming to rest on the road.

 

Data from the incident recorder fitted to the police car established that ten seconds prior to the collision the vehicle was travelling at 99mph.  At the point of impact it was travelling at 58mph and was breaking when the collision occurred. 

 

When interviewed under criminal caution, Police Officer A denied that the road conditions were as poor as had been implied.  He also stated that when he came around the corner and saw the stationary Clio he applied the brakes and intended to drive around it, but when it began to reverse into his path he could not avoid a collision.  He denied that he had driven dangerously or carelessly.

 

The Police Ombudsman’s Office prepared a file for the Public Prosecution Service, who directed prosecution of the officer.  In February 2013 he was found guilty of Causing Death by Careless Driving on account of the excessive speed with which he had been driving and failing to take sufficient account of the poor road conditions. As a result he was unable to react quickly enough to avoid the collision.

 

The officer received a Community Sentence Order requiring him to perform 240 hours of unpaid work and was disqualified from driving for one year.

 

On the same day the driver of the Clio was found guilty of the more serious offence of Causing Death by Dangerous Driving and sentenced to four years imprisonment.

 

The Police Ombudsman further concluded that the officer had breached the PSNI Code of Ethics by virtue of the criminal conviction, and a file was sent to the PSNI who subsequently applied a discipline sanction against him.