Police wrongly told parents their teenage son died in car crash

The family of a teenager seriously injured in a car crash were mistakenly told he died after police mistook him for the real victim.

South Yorkshire Police referred themselves to the police watchdog for the identification process following their handling of the collision in Rotherham.

A 17-year-old girl died in a crash on Todwick Road on December 13.

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But officers also told relatives of 17-year-old Trevor Wynn that he was dead.

The young man, who officers believe to be Joshua Johnson, 18, was taken to the hospital after being injured.

But the force says “information came to light” on Sunday that led to further formal identification processes, including forensics.

These tests showed that Trevor Wynn was the teenager in the hospital and that Joshua Johnson was murdered.

“The families and surviving victim Trevor will be offered support from specialist officers and additional specialist services,” police said.

An 18-year-old youth was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, and a 19-year-old youth was arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. Both were released on bail pending further investigation.

Deputy Chief Constable Colin McFarlane said: “This has obviously been a huge shock to everyone and we are aware of the additional trauma this may cause.

“Through this we are supporting Trevor and all the families and have engaged specialist agencies to help provide this support.”

Mr McFarlane said he offered to meet both sets of parents.

“I’m sure there will be many questions, many of which we don’t yet have answers to, but we are committed to understanding how this happened so it can’t happen again,” he said.

“We have taken the decision to refer ourselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to assess our role in the identification processes that followed following the road traffic collision.”

He said the force would fully cooperate with any investigation and be led by the IOPC in finding out how the incident happened and how to ensure it never happens again.

The police force said the families asked them to thank the public for their support but to be left alone “to process the future they now face”.