Back in September 2022 I wrote about the case of my client Aaron Humphreys who had been shot by a West Mercia Police Firearms Officer in circumstances which could have been described as farcical, if they weren’t so very close to being fatal.
Aaron, who was wanted by the police in connection with a criminal damage offence, was reported by a member of the public to have what they believed to be a firearm in his vehicle. It was in fact a ‘BB’ gun. Aaron, who had fallen asleep in his car, awoke to the sound of shouting and realised in shock that his vehicle was surrounded by a police firearms squad, who were training their weapons upon him.
In accordance with their instructions, Aaron exited his vehicle and stood still. He was fully compliant, and the police could see that he was holding nothing in his hands.
Whilst one of the officers approached Aaron with handcuffs, and another trained a taser upon him (shining a red targeting laser on his chest), Aaron continued to be calm and compliant – and then, without warning, was shot by one of the officers with her carbine rifle. This is of course a deadly, military-grade weapon.
The police have never disclosed the actual identity of this officer, and so she can be referred to only as officer B.
The bullet from officer B’s carbine went through the open door of Aaron’s vehicle, grazed his left knee and then punctured his upper right leg, near the knee joint, creating entry and exit wounds. The moment of the shooting was captured by this video clip filmed by a member of the public –
Aaron immediately collapsed, bleeding and in excruciating pain, struggling to breathe and fading in and out of consciousness. He was aware that he had been shot but struggled to comprehend what had happened.
He was then rushed to hospital by ambulance for emergency surgery.
Following Aaron’s admission to the hospital, he was at one point informed by a doctor that such was the severity of the damage it was likely he would lose his right leg: a terrifying and traumatic piece of information to process, even if, as it thankfully transpired, Aaron’s leg did not in the end have to be amputated.
My client’s experience of being in hospital was made all the worse by the fact that he was also under arrest and suffered significant distress and disruption from being under constant police observation, which naturally generated a lot of light and noise around him when what he really needed was calm and quiet to allow his horrendous injury to begin healing.
As I reported in my previous blog post, following this incident the Independent Office for Police Conduct (the IOPC) received a Death or Serious Injury referral (DSI) from West Mercia Police and commenced an investigation into the conduct of officer B.
When officer B was interviewed by the IOPC her account was that she had accidentally fired her carbine whilst struggling to hold a large, heavy shield in her left hand and apply the safety catch to her firearm with her right hand. Body worn video recorded the officer shouting “Sorry, sorry!” immediately after the bullet was fired.
Whilst accidents do happen, and we all have occasion to have to say sorry, the fumbling of a loaded gun, whilst it is pointed at another human being is a level beyond mere clumsiness or misjudgement and in my opinion amounted to a recklessness so great that officer B should have been found guilty of misconduct. It was only by chance that her ‘rogue bullet’ did not kill Aaron – or in fact, one of her own police colleagues or an innocent bystander.
Indeed, the IOPC advised that in their opinion officer B did have a case to answer for misconduct, but the subsequently convened West Mercia Police Misconduct Panel concluded that the officer’s conduct had not breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour, leaving Deputy Chief Constable Julian Moss to release a rather jubilant and self-congratulatory statement celebrating the outcome, which he originally, erroneously described as a verdict of “no case to answer”.
My client was understandably deeply aggrieved by the lack of care and compassion that he received from West Mercia Police throughout these events, culminating in the lack of proper accountability for officer B. The police, it seemed, were now happy to walk away and forget this had ever happened, but Aaron would be left with life-long physical and mental scars as a result of the officer’s utterly reckless, but unpunished, actions and I was determined to achieve justice for him through a civil claim for damages.
I am pleased to confirm that as this year draws to a close, so that civil claim process has now also reached a natural and fitting conclusion.
In response to proceedings which I brought in the High Court, West Mercia Police have agreed to pay Aaron damages totalling £373,000 (net of state benefits received by Aaron following the incident, which the Police are separately obliged to repay to the DWP), reflective of the extreme seriousness of the injuries which they inflicted upon him.
A Six- Figure Settlement for Police Wrongdoing
In order to achieve this level of damages it was essential to fully investigate and measure every effect which this injury had had upon Aaron’s life, and accordingly I commissioned expert reports from Orthopaedic and Plastic Surgeons, a Psychiatrist, a Neurologist and I also assisted Aaron in accessing the rehabilitation services that he needed.
The medical evidence established that the gunshot had caused a fracture to Aaron’s right proximal tibia (the upper part of the shin bone that connects to the knee) leaving Aaron with chronic musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain in his right leg, as well as extreme sensitivity around the scars of the wounds.
Aaron also suffered seizure-like episodes with sudden losses of consciousness and shaking of his body, which after MRI scans, nerve conduction studies and an EMG were deemed to be non-epileptic seizures likely to be psychogenic in nature and arising from the incident in question. Psychogenic seizures are often caused by severe psychological distress and unresolved trauma and thus, as ever in a case of this nature, the rehabilitation programme and the compensation award had to address the real need for mental as well as physical healing.
Furthermore, it was established that Aaron was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, being the victim of a violent and terrifying shooting incident, and one which was further compounded by the terror he had experienced upon being initially told that he might end up with only one leg.
Before the shooting, Aaron had established a successful career as a civil engineer/ground worker. As a result of his injuries – in particular the chronic pain and physical vulnerability of his right leg, as well as his risk of further non-epileptic seizures which would pose a particular risk in a building/construction work environment, it was deemed impossible for Aaron to return to his former occupation and he was advised that he would have to re-train for office-based desk jobs in the future.
A highly important element in determining the correct compensation award for Aaron was therefore the fact that although he could return to work in other roles, his former occupation was denied to him because of the physical limitations now imposed upon him by the officer’s negligent bullet. This is what is known as “loss of congenial employment” i.e. an injury which does not render a person incapable of work, but which forces them to forever leave behind the type of work for which they are most suited and which gave them great job satisfaction. Aaron talked to me eloquently about how rewarding he had found his work in the civil engineering sector. He had worked on the construction of roads and utility tunnels for new housing estates, often using heavy machinery and sophisticated GPS equipment, and taking great pride in playing his part in transforming a derelict zone or empty field into a beautifully landscaped area of new homes. His chosen career had given a great structure to his life, as not only was it physically demanding but also mentally stimulating. As he commented, the importance of his job to wider society had been emphasised by the fact that during the Covid pandemic he had been classed as a key worker. Now his injury had deprived him of all those psychological as well as physical benefits. Happiness in work is such an important component of a good life.
It was in light of all of the above elements of the claim that West Mercia Police recently agreed the settlement totalling £373,000 for Aaron. But as this year draws to a close, remember that Aaron would give up every penny of that award if he could turn back the clock to 2021 and avoid the bullet’s bite.
I also urge everyone to reflect on incidents like this whenever there is further discussion about increasing the number of firearm officers in the UK, a country which has so long and so rightly been proud of its tradition of de-militarised policing.
Watch Crimebodge’s video about this case here.
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