Officers acted appropriately prior to fatal road traffic collision in Salford
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officers who followed an e-bike in Salford before it was involved in a fatal collision acted in accordance with the relevant policies and procedures, an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation concluded.
An inquest, which concluded on Thursday (January 9) at Bolton Coroner’s Court, determined Saul Cookson, 15, died as a result of a road traffic collision with the cause of death recorded as being multiple traumatic injuries when the e-bike he was riding collided with an ambulance travelling along Langworthy Road, at the junction with Lower Seedley Road, shortly after 2pm on June 8, 2023.
The IOPC received a mandatory referral from GMP due to the fact police had been following the e-bike for a short period just prior to the collision.
“Our investigation looked at the actions and decisions of the officers during their interaction with the e-bike and whether they acted in accordance with police policies and procedures, and the nature and extent of police contact prior to the collision,” the IOPC said.
“We established that on the day of the fatal collision, a GMP officer was driving a marked BMW X5 along Fitzwarren Street, in the company of a second police officer. As the police vehicle drove in the direction of Seedley Road, they saw Saul riding a black Sur-Ron E-bike.
“The e-bike travelled onto Lower Seedley Road followed by the police vehicle, which was blocked off by bollards further down the road and Saul was able to travel through onto Langworthy Road where he was struck by a moving ambulance. He was treated by paramedics at the scene before being taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead at 2.35pm.”
A collision investigator established that Saul travelled through the end of Lower Seedley Road and entered into Langworthy Road between 38-40mph and went on to collide with the ambulance at a speed of 29mph. The first opportunity the driver of the ambulance would have had to see Saul was 0.6 seconds prior to the collision.
The evidence indicated that the extent of the police contact with Saul was brief and lasted approximately 25 seconds from when officers first saw the e-bike to when it collided with the ambulance.
The jury determined the officers had not engaged in a pursuit of Saul.
“We concluded that while police presence may have affected the manner of Saul’s driving, the actions of GMP officers were in line with the applicable policy and procedure and there was no indication any police officer had behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence,” the IOPC said.
During the investigation, which concluded in January 2024, IOPC investigators obtained and reviewed CCTV and radio transmissions along with a report from the collision investigator.
IOPC Regional Director Catherine Bates said: “Any death on our roads is a tragedy and sadly in this instance a boy has lost his life and our thoughts remain with his family, friends and all those affected.
“Our investigation was independent of the police and aimed to understand events leading up to the collision. We found the officers acted appropriately and in line with procedures.
“The evidence we gathered was provided to the coroner to assist with the inquest proceedings, which we hope has helped answer some of the families’ questions about that day.”