Police officer ran over cyclist who threw sandwich on the ground
A former police officer has been banned from service after deliberately hitting a cyclist who was throwing a sandwich on nearby grass, causing minor injuries.
Former Norfolk Police officer Frederick Boyle, who has now resigned, hit a man who saw him littering and pinned him under a police car, a police misconduct panel has heard.
The other two police officers in the vehicle, Kerron Tuttle and Abigail Thomas, were given 18-month written warnings for failing to report the incident and failing to ensure the welfare of the cyclist.
Mr Tuttle accepted the incident was “bad driving” and a “split moment of poor judgment” by Mr Boyle.
Mr Boyle was on routine patrol on March 15, 2024, when he saw the cyclist, referred to as “Mr M”, throw the sandwich onto the edge of the grass.
In response, Mr Boyle activated the vehicle’s blue lights, turned on the red traffic light and rode towards Mr M, who attempted to cycle away.
A citizen who witnessed the collision said he was so concerned by what he saw that he reported it to the police himself.
The former officer claimed he was not deliberately trying to run her over and was merely hoping to prevent her from escaping. The panel said: “The decision to turn sharply to the right was a deliberate decision made by former PC Boyle and, in the panel’s view, was made out of a desire to ensure that Mr M was not successful in evading officers’ attempts to detain him.”
After performing the PNC check, Mr Boyle left the scene without checking to see if Mr M was safe or injured. The cyclist was later left at the scene with the bike, which could not be ridden due to damage.
“[Mr Boyle] “He accepted that he had some injuries (redness) on his leg, but he could not see any serious injury and therefore did not feel the need to call an ambulance,” he said.
Mr Boyle did not report the crash as an incident and said he feared it would take “mountains out of molehills”.
He had previously been involved in a collision while on police duty and received eight penalty points on his internal police licence.
Although the incident did not cause “significant injury” to Mr M, the panel found that the risk of Mr Boyle’s driving was so high that serious injuries could have occurred.
The tribunal assessed the harm caused to Mr Boyle as “high” and considered the incident to be gross misconduct serious enough to justify dismissal.
As a result, Mr Boyle, who resigned following the incident, was placed on the police banned list, which prevents former officers from returning to police work.
The board also heard that Mr Tuttle, who was in the front seat, and Ms Thomas, who was in the back seat, also left the scene without checking to see if the cyclist was hurt.
Both officers failed to report the collision and received an 18-month written warning.
