The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer’s decision to signal a stolen car to stop moments before it was involved in a serious crash was reasonable in the circumstances.

In the early hours of the morning on 22 October 2022, three stolen Toyota Aqua motor vehicles were travelling in convoy around the Christchurch city area. They were initially seen by a Police dog handler who lost sight of them and began searching for them.

As the dog handler was traveling slowly along Stanmore Road, one of the Aquas containing four young people drove out of a side street without stopping, colliding with the front of the dog van. The driver of the Aqua did not stop and accelerated away along Stanmore Road.

The dog handler immediately activated his flashing lights and siren to signal the Aqua to stop. However, after passing through the intersection with Avonside Drive and realising the Aqua was not going to stop, he began to slow and pull to the left, deactivating his lights and siren.

The Aqua continued at high speed through a red light at the intersection with Gloucester Street, crashing with a vehicle traveling on a green light. The impact of the crash caused a back seat passenger in the Aqua to be ejected out of the car, causing him life-threatening injuries. The time between the Aqua colliding with the dog handler’s van, and the crash at the Gloucester Street intersection, was about 24 seconds.

The Authority concluded that the decision whether or not to signal the Aqua to stop was finely balanced, but reasonable in the circumstances as the dog handler perceived them to be. We also concluded that it was appropriate for the dog handler to have slowed and deactivated his lights and siren when he realised the Aqua was not going to stop and he could see the Gloucester Street intersection approaching.

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