Three police officers face losing their jobs after a disciplinary panel found that they lied about an incident in which a black student suffered a broken neck, leaving him paralysed and severely brain damaged.
The panel found that breaches of standards of honesty and integrity by PC Hannah Ross, PC Nicholas Oates and PC Sanjeev Kalyan over their descriptions of the incident that left Julian Cole paralysed amounted to gross misconduct.
Cole sustained a severely broken neck, a cardiac arrest and stopped breathing; leading to significant brain damage after an incident in which he was; tackled to the ground twice, firstly by nightclub security then by police in Bedford in May 2013.
He was; dragged to the back of a van and taken to Greyfriars police station in Bedford; before police called paramedics when they found him unresponsive. He will spend the rest of his life in a vegetative state.
Ross, Oates and Kalyon made a number of dishonest statements in their notepads; and in subsequent interviews in an effort to avoid blame for the tragedy that befell Cole, the panel said.
All three police officers were also found to have committed misconduct after failing to fulfil their duties and responsibilities regarding their care of Cole.
The hearing has adjourned before submissions from the police officers regarding what punishment they should face. But John Bassett, the panel chair, said: “For a serving officer to make false statements is so bad as to justify dismissal in itself.”
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