Norfolk police officer who crashed car had medical episode

A police officer driving a vehicle that crashed into another car but carried on had a medical episode and would face no more misconduct action, a force said.

The collision happened on the A146 at Barnby in Suffolk on 5 March 2022.

Criminal charges were brought against the Norfolk police officer, including for careless driving, but were dropped after medical evidence.

The other officer in the car is facing misconduct proceedings for failing to report the collision immediately.

The driver's condition meant he was "unlikely to have known what was happening at the time of the incident or have any recollection of it", Norfolk Constabulary said.

The two officers were returning to their station at the end of their shift when the BMW X5 they were in collided with an Audi A1, the force said.

They failed to stop at the scene and the officer who was a passenger reported the crash the following day.

Criminal charges for careless driving, failing to stop and failing to report a collision were initially brought against the driver, but were dropped following medical reports.

Chief constable of Norfolk Constabulary, Paul Sanford, said: "We're sorry for what happened in this case and the police vehicle should have stopped.

"Reports from two independent consultants established the driver had experienced a medical episode behind the wheel and because of the condition, is unlikely to have known what was happening at the time of the incident or have any recollection of it."

The misconduct investigation concluded the driver had "no case to answer".

However, the other officer's behaviour "fell below the high standards we expect", Mr Sandford said.

"In this case, we have taken the action we could, given the evidence we were presented with. I'm always personally disappointed and hurt when we get things wrong, but when we do, we always take action where we can.

"We deal with hundreds of calls a day and in the vast majority provide an exceptional service that I'm proud of. In this incident, standards fell beneath what we would expect and we have responded proportionately."

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