Metropolitan police officer pleads guilty to causing death by careless driving following fatal police collision

Andrew Brown

A police officer today has pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving after a fatal collision which occurred on 1 November 2019.

Andrew Brown, 23, was walking home after a night out and crossing the road outside Hounslow station in West London when he was struck by the marked police car. Andrew suffered critical injuries and sadly died four days later.

PC Daniel Francis was driving the police car at the time of the incident.  It is understood that he had accelerated to around 60mph as he approached the pedestrian crossing and had failed to switch on his emergency warning lights or sirens.

PC Francis pleaded guilty this morning at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, and will now appear at the Central Criminal Court for sentencing at a date that is yet to be determined.

He will also face a gross misconduct hearing after an IOPC investigation found he had a case to answer for failing to act in accordance with appropriate training, policy and procedure.  A date has yet to be set for that hearing.

Andrew’s family said the following:

“We are pleased that PC Francis has accepted responsibility for his actions today.  We have waited patiently for two years for answers about the incident which claimed our son Andrew’s life.  The guilty plea brings us some comfort as we have only ever wanted accountability for what happened.  We remain concerned that the Metropolitan Police Service sees this as only an individual failure that requires no wider institutional learning – there is still much work to be done to improve the police’s track record for safety on the roads.”

 Andrew’s family is represented by Jag Bahra, a solicitor in our Human Rights team, with counsel Raj Desai of Matrix Chambers.