Tim Bradshaw, a former police officer in Bognor Regis, was recently cleared of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
The jury at Portsmouth Crown Court also found Bradshaw not guilty of causing serious injury by driving without due care and attention.
The incident in question occurred in Bognor Regis in November 2022. Bradshaw was on duty in a marked police car, when he spotted two men on an electric bicycle weaving in and out of cars and riding on the pavement in a manner deemed to be dangerous.
Intending to stop them and prevent a potentially hazardous pursuit, Bradshaw told the jury he nudged the bike’s rear wheel with the front bumper of his car. This caused the rider, 17-year-old Mason McGarry, to lose the ability to control the bike, and both he and his pillion passenger, 22-year-old Dominic Mizzi, were knocked to the ground. Mizzi suffered minor injuries while McGarry suffered a broken tibia requiring surgery.
Bradshaw maintained that his action was purely a tactical manoeuvre performed in the course of his duties as a police officer, and that such manoeuvres had previously been authorised by his superiors.
The jury accepted that in the circumstances the officer’s driving was neither dangerous nor careless, but was a proportionate use of police tactics.
When accused or charged with offences like this, many defendants require the services of careless driving solicitors in order to receive the best available legal support.