Published Date: 21 August 2009
By Claire Lewis
A DAMNING investigation has been published into the way South Yorkshire Police handled the search for a crashed car where the driver was lying seriously injured.
Police failed to find the vehicle or 21-year-old Gary Shore, who had been thrown from the vehicle, for more than five hours. He injuries left him with severe brain damage.
His furious family believe that had his head injuries been treated quickly, the consequences would have been less severe.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which investigated the handling of the incident last November, found:
n the sergeant who took the original report failed to note the details of the woman who made it, meaning further inquiries could not be made.
n the incident was not recorded properly on the police computer system.
n a search of the area by a Police Community Support Officer, who failed to locate the car, was "inadequate".
The IPCC Commissioner said at each stage "small but ultimately significant mistakes" were made.
Today, Gary's dad Paul, who lives just yards from the crash scene on Upper Wortley Road, Thorpe Hesley, Rotherham, called the failures "unbelievable".
The 40-year-old HGV driver said: "We feel very angry about what's been found out in this report, and shocked at what happened that day.
"I go over it every single day – asking myself the same questions, what would it have been like if they had found him earlier? Why didn't they find him? Why didn't they look harder?
"The fact is if he had been found earlier his injuries wouldn't have been so serious and I believe that he wouldn't have been left brain-damaged.
"It's shocking, absolutely shocking, that the call was not acted on properly. That sergeant didn't even make a note of what happened and all he got was a written warning.
"A PCSO shouldn't have even been sent out to look – it should have been a proper bobby or traffic officer. Once again, it all boils down to money and cutting corners – it's about time they said enough is enough and started doing their job properly."
Nine months on from the smash and Gary remains in Rotherham District General Hospital's High Dependency Unit. He has suffered a severe brain injury which affects every aspect of his life, and has also been left paralysed.
Now his family are launching legal action in a bid to win damages to support a move from their current home – which is not suitable for the adaptations needed for Gary to leave hospital – and to fund his rehabilitation.
Paul said: "It's unbelievable what happened but no-one has even said sorry.
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Police-bl ... 5576161.jp
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