THE INDEPENDENT Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has opened its investigation into the death of a 40-year-old man who was struck by a police car responding to a 999 emergency call.
The crash, involving the West Midlands Police (WMP) vehicle, happened while he was crossing Yardley Road, near the junction with Florence Road, at around 7pm on Wednesday night.
The IOPC said it had established the double-crewed, marked police car was responding to an emergency call and displaying blue lights when it happened. Following the collision the man, who lived locally, was given first aid by police but sadly his death was pronounced at the scene by paramedics a short time later.
“West Midlands Police began post-incident procedures and, after we were notified, we sent our investigators to those and to the scene to start gathering evidence.
“Initial accounts have been provided by the officers involved and they are being treated as witnesses.”
Appeal for witnesses
The IOPC is now appealing for anyone who witnessed any part of the incident to contact us as soon as possible by calling 0300 3035606 or by emailing: [email protected]
IOPC Director Derrick Campbell said: “Our sympathies and thoughts are with the family and friends of the man who died and all those affected by this tragic incident.
“It happened on a busy road and we would urge anyone who witnessed what happened or has any dash cam or other footage to get in touch with our investigators, if they have not already come forward to report what they saw.
“Our role is to independently investigate the involvement of police in this collision to establish all the circumstances surrounding it. That will include looking at any actions taken by the officers and whether those followed policy and procedure.
“We have been in contact with the family of the man who died to explain our work and we will keep them fully updated as our investigation continues.”
IOPC investigators were this afternoon carrying out house to house enquiries and a CCTV trawl near the scene of the collision.
The coroner has been informed and a post mortem will be organised in due course.
