A driver who crashed his car into a tree while being followed by police died as a result of an accident caused by the speed he was driving at as well as the influence of alcohol and cannabis, a jury has found.
The jury, sitting at Birmingham and Solihull Coroner’s Court, found that Muhammad Qasim was aware of Pc Paul Withers following him in his marked police vehicle in Island Road, Birmingham, in the early hours of October 2 2023 before he lost control of his BMW and crashed.
The 29-year-old died in hospital having suffered “catastrophic” head injuries when he was ejected from the vehicle after crashing into a tree on the central reservation as he was not wearing his seatbelt at the time.
He was also one and a half times over the drink-drive limit and had recently used cannabis, with a surviving passenger telling police Mr Qasim had been “mashed” in the hours prior to the crash having drunk vodka.
Pc Withers told the inquest that Mr Qasim appeared to have control of his vehicle but it came to his attention on the 30mph Church Lane because it was speeding, leading to him informing the control room over the radio that the BMW was “absolutely flying”.
Mr Qasim had been doing “loops” of Island Road, with the police car following, and had suggested to his passengers that he was going to stop the car and they should run just before the collision, the inquest heard.
The Pc, who was not trained to carry out pursuits as a standard response officer, denied that he was ever in pursuit of Mr Qasim’s vehicle, telling the inquest that he was following the car to try and get intelligence including the registration number.
He told the inquest he was “perplexed” by the BMW driver repeatedly looping up and down Island Road as they did not appear to be trying to evade the police car which led him to question whether Mr Qasim even knew of the officer’s presence.
Senior coroner Louise Hunt said the purpose of the inquest was to examine the events leading up to the collision, the manner of driving of the officer and Mr Qasim, whether the events amounted to a police pursuit and if so, if it was compliant with West Midlands Police practice standards and general guidance, and whether there is any relevance to the manner of the driving of the police officer and Mr Qasim to the causation of his death.
Before they returned a conclusion of road traffic accident, Mrs Hunt told the jury they should not record that there was a police pursuit because two independent police driving experts said they had no criticism of Pc Withers’s driving, that he was “entitled” to follow the car and that he had not indicated to Mr Qasim that he wanted him to stop and did not have his blue lights on.
Both experts – Jonathan Little, chief driving instructor for Staffordshire Police and Paul Trowman, the chief driving instructor for West Midlands Police – agreed that even if there had been a “spontaneous” pursuit, the crash would likely still have happened because of Mr Qasim’s speed and contributory factors of alcohol intoxication and drugs.
Referring to the final loop both Mr Qasim, and then eight seconds after, Pc Withers made before continuing along Island Road, the jury said: “At this point, Qasim and the occupants of the vehicle were aware the police vehicle was behind them and Qasim accelerated quickly to gain distance between his vehicle and the police vehicle with the intention of abandoning the vehicle.
“As Qasim accelerated out of sight of the police vehicle along Island Road, he failed to negotiate a left-hand bend, losing control of the vehicle, mounting the grassed central reservation and hitting two trees before the vehicle came to rest on the road. The road conditions were damp but the weather was dry.
“Qasim had been ejected from the vehicle when it had hit the tree due to not wearing the driver’s seatbelt.
“He suffered catastrophic injuries as a result of the crash. The accident was caused by the speed Qasim was driving, his driving ability was impaired from drinking alcohol and being 1.5 times over the drink-drive limit and having smoked cannabis.
“The way Qasim was driving had also been influenced by the presence of the police vehicle.”
Mrs Hunt thanked the jury for their “attention, patience and hard work” and said she would be creating a prevention of future deaths report in relation to two issues.
She said she would write to the College of Policing, who provide guidance on pursuits to police forces, to ask them to “clarify how the paragraph on spontaneous pursuit is applied” by officers.
The coroner also said she would write to the Independent Office for Police Conduct in relation to the lack of a forensic collision report following the crash and what investigative responsibilities continue when investigating conduct in fatal incidents.
Addressing Mr Qasim’s father in the court room and his sisters who listened to proceedings online, she said: “Thank you for your patience, it must have brought back tragic memories.
“Please do look after yourselves, it has been a very difficult time for you all.”
