One of the officers at the centre of the hit-and-run scandal involving Norfolk police has been criticised for allowing his colleague to continue to drive despite suspecting he had suffered a “medical episode”.
PC Ryan Hargrave is facing a misconduct hearing for delaying reporting a crash involving a marked armed response BMW X5 hitting the back of another car at almost 50mph on the A146, near Lowestoft.
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Criminal charges against its driver PC Karl Warren were later dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service after medical evidence was presented that he was suffering transient global amnesia (TGA), a temporary loss of memory.
Following the crash on March 5 last year the officers failed to stop to check on the welfare of the other driver instead returning to Acle police station.
Neither officer reported the crash until the following day, when PC Hargrave - who was a passenger in the vehicle - notified a sergeant.
A misconduct investigation by Norfolk police’s professional standards department found PC Hargrave had failed to bring the accident to the attention of a police supervisor despite having “ample opportunity” to do so.
“He also failed to prevent PC Warren from continuing to drive, either in the police vehicle, or in his own private vehicle, when he could have been subject to some form of medical episode,” states the investigation report, which has been seen by this newspaper.
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When the crash was eventually reported PC Warren had both his police driving and firearms permits revoked, restrictions that remain in place.
A Norfolk police spokesman said: “The officer is not permitted to drive any police vehicle at this time and this restriction will remain in place subject to further medical assessment.”
It is understood PC Warren still holds a driving licence.
People suffering an episode of TGA only need to notify the DVLA if they hold a bus or heavy goods vehicle driving licence.
Driving is not barred by a single confirmed episode. However, a recurrence requires specialist assessment to exclude all other causes of altered awareness.
Dr Michael Grey, an expert in rehabilitation neuroscience at the University of East Anglia’s School of Health Science, said: “Those are the regulations for a whole lot of neurological conditions, including epilepsy for example, where for very obvious reasons drivers who are responsible for a bus load of people or a heavy lorry are subject to regulations.”
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