A police chase which ended when a teenager drowned while trapped under a PSNI patrol car should have been called off, Northern Ireland's Ombudsman's inquiry claimed today.
Raymond Robinson, 19, died in a shallow water stream when the patrol car ended up on top of him. He jumped out of his Seat Toledo which had earlier been in collision with the police vehicle, and ran across grass at Whiteabbey in an area known as The Glen.
Officers continued to follow him and tragedy struck after the police car slid down a steep 12 to 15-foot bank and into the Threemilewater, a report revealed.
Visibility was poor at the time. At one stage officers desperately tried to revive him with mouth to mouth resuscitation, but he died at the scene.
NI Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan
The Police Ombudsman's investigation into the death in April 2004 found no evidence of misconduct by any of the PSNI officers involved, but strongly criticised police procedures and training for vehicle pursuits. Mrs Nuala O'Loan claimed: "It is my conclusion that the pursuit should have been called off before the police car became involved in following the car off-road."
The man's family also expressed concern and said they were gravely worried about the police handling of the situation. They claimed he was killed. A statement said: "We are now going to consider our next course of action."
Officers tried to stop Mr Robinson after receiving reports that his vehicle was being driven erratically. Mr Robinson was later found to be twice the drink driving limit and there were traces of solvents and cannabis in his blood.
The Director of Public Prosecutions directed no prosecution of the officers involved but Mrs O'Loan said she was concerned that neither of the two officers in the car informed the regional control room of the chase.
"Although the entire pursuit lasted less than two minutes, opportunities to inform the control room of its nature were missed, denying the control room an opportunity to order that it be abandoned," she said. She added that police pursuit policy was unclear about officers seeking authorisation and found the individuals involved hadn't been trained for a chase.
She concluded that it would be inappropriate to discipline the officers because they hadn't received adequate guidance. A PSNI spokesman said: "The police service will study the contents of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland's report. We welcome the Ombudsman's findings that no officer is guilty of misconduct.
"This was a tragic accident and a new pursuit policy has been developed and we are in the process of rolling out our training to deliver on the implementation of that policy as quickly."
PA