Elderly woman dies on Christmas Day following crash with unmarked police car
Share:
The crash with Staffordshire Police’s unmarked Skoda Octavia happened in early December. A police force has referred itself to a watchdog after a pensioner died following a crash with an unmarked police car in Stoke-on-Trent. A red Nissan Micra was in a collision with the unmarked Skoda Octavia, driven by Staffordshire Police, shortly after 3.50pm on Thursday 5 December. The police car was using its blue lights at the time.
The driver of the Nissan, who was a woman in her eighties, was taken to hospital following the collision on Park Hall Road near the junction with Hulme Road, in the southeastern area of the Midlands city. She was readmitted to hospital on 16 December and died on Christmas Day. Specially trained officers are supporting her family, Staffordshire Police said in a statement.
Following her death, the police force has now been re-referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which will investigate the “actions and decisions of police before the collision”. Officers are now appealing to speak to anyone who was in the area at the time, or who saw the vehicles in the lead-up to the crash.
A statement from the IOPC read: “We have today decided to independently investigate the actions of officers prior to a traffic collision in Stoke-on-Trent on 5 December involving a Staffordshire Police vehicle. “A conduct referral made to the IOPC by Staffordshire Police was initially assessed as suitable for an investigation to be carried out locally by the force.
