UTV News - Cock-up denied after police crash

Subscribe to the News Feed Newsback to News

Cock-up denied after police crash

Text Size:  A  A |  POST A COMMENT |  PRINT |  SHARE 
Police car involved in fatal crash
The Police Ombudsman's office has denied telling the wrong woman her partner had been killed in a road accident involving a police car.

David Thomas James McKee, 19, from Coleraine was killed in the crash on the Ballybogey Road between Ballymoney and Portrush at around 4am on Thursday.

He was the front-seat passenger of a Renault Clio at the time of the accident.

A 29-year-old man who was driving the car was also injured but his condition is not life threatening.

Before Mr McKee's family was informed of the teenager's death, another woman was reportedly visited by investigators from the Police Ombudsman's office.

They went to the bank where she works to ask if she knew her partner had been involved in the collision.

She was able to tell them they were wrong, as he was alive and well.

"That situation is incredible and almost unforgivable", local UUP MLA David McClarty told UTV.

"One can only begin to imagine what sort of reaction that poor lady had to deal with and the Police Ombudsman's office has a lot of questions to answer about why they made that mistake."

East Derry SDLP MLA John Dallat has asked the Police Ombudsman's office to conduct a detailed inquiry into "why they got something so simple so wrong."

It is the second time in three months that a police vehicle has been involved in a fatal collision.

An investigation into Thursday's crash is underway.

The area was closed-off for a time while officers and forensics teams examined the scene.

Detectives haven't yet confirmed if the police car had been pursuing the vehicle when the crash happened.

But they said that the Renault Clio had not been stolen.

Police also said they were keen to speak to a lorry driver who was on that stretch of road at the time of the accident.

© UTV News

Send to a friend

Email To
Your Name
Comment
Close
Comments
0 Comments
Be the first to comment
Post a comment
Name:
Email Address:
Location:
Your Comment:
Verification Code: Captcha Code  Get New Code
POST COMMENT
[Before posting, please take a moment to familiarise yourself with our house rules. All comments are moderated and will not appear immediately. Any information you enter, including email and web addresses, will be displayed on our site if passed by our moderators.]