Police car chase procedures criticised

Police procedures for dealing with car chases have been criticised by the Police Ombudsman, following an investigation into the death of a man two years ago.

Raymond Robinson drowned in shallow water after becoming trapped under a police car in Whiteabbey, on April 24, 2004.

Police had pursued him as he drove into, and then made off on foot, across grass and into an area known as The Glen.

Mr Robinson became trapped when the police car slid down a steep 12-15 foot bank and landed on top of him in a stream known locally as the Threemilewater.

Police officers tried, but failed, to free Mr Robinson and provide mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers had tried to stop Mr Robinson after receiving reports of a car matching the description of his vehicle was driving erratically.

The report noted that visibility had been poor at the time of the accident and forensic analysis of tyre tracks and braking patterns at the scene found that the police car was likely to have been travelling at a speed of between 13 and 16mph before it reached the edge of the steep bank.

A post-mortem revealed that although Mr Robinson had suffered a range of injuries, the cause of death was drowning. It also revealed that he had twice the legal driving limit of alcohol in his bloodstream at the time of his death, as well as traces of solvents and cannabis.

Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan described Mr Robinson's death as a "tragic accident". She said that while no individual officer was guilty of misconduct, "severely deficient" police training and pursuit policies may have contributed to the fatality.

She said: "From the evidence it is clear that police did not deliberately run into Mr Robinson. Visibility was poor and, although he was driving slowly, the driver of the police car was unaware until the last moment that he was approaching a steep drop, or that a collision with Mr Robinson was imminent. He and other officers at the scene did all they could to free Raymond from beneath the car."

However, Mrs O'Loan pointed out that neither the police driver or his front seat observer had informed the police regional control room about the pursuit or sought authorisation for it.

However, she also found that police pursuit policy was unclear as to when officers needed to seek authorisation for a pursuit and also found that the officers involved had not been trained in pursuits or pursuits commentaries.

Mrs O'Loan recommended that a new pursuits policy, based on guidelines developed by the Association of Chief Police Officers, should be developed and applied across all of Northern Ireland and that police control rooms should play a greater role in managing and controlling pursuits.

She also recommended that specialist commentary training should be an essential part of police driver training and that police drivers should be given guidance about the need for control room authorisation for pursuits.

Mrs O'Loan said: "It is my hope that the introduction of the new policy will greatly reduce the likelihood of such tragic incidents occurring in the future."

The PSNI welcomed the Police Ombudsman's findings. A spokesperson said that it is now in the process of preparing for the implementation of a new pursuits policy.

However, Mr Robinson's family have expressed concern about the way the incident was handled and released a statement saying that they were now considering their next course of action.

(KMcA/GB)