Cambridge PC Rowan Huskisson guilty of gross misconduct

A police officer who "deliberately drove" at a man and "ran him over" on the pavement has been given a final warning.

PC Rowan Huskisson hit Sam Whitmore with his marked police car in Cambridge at 03:45 BST on 28 May.

Seconds later he was recorded saying: "That's how you deal with that."

A misconduct hearing found he was guilty of gross misconduct and had breached professional standards of behaviour.

Speaking after the hearing, PC Huskisson said he was "relieved" to keep his job.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) regional director Sarah Green said Mr Whitmore had only suffered minor injuries.

She said: "This manoeuvre involved a high level of risk and the young man posed no threat to PC Huskisson, or anyone else at that time."

A file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, which decided to take no further action.

Footage from CCTV and a body-worn police camera were played to the IOPC hearing in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire.

The hearing was told PC Huskisson was working with PC Chris Griffiths targeting alcohol-related disorder in Cambridge at night.

Footage from a CCTV camera showed PC Huskisson's car turn into a taxi rank and appear to mount the pavement and hit Mr Whitmore.

He told defending barrister Colin Banham that he saw Mr Whitmore running and wanted to create a "hard block" using the car.

"My intention was to try and stop him," he said. "He was a suspect in two assaults.

"My plan was to stop the car so he would have to negotiate and change his course... unfortunately we both made the same manoeuvre."

PC Huskisson admitted he may have made a "flippant" comment afterwards, but said it was the "opposite of what I was thinking".