“An Asian man who witnessed a fatal road traffic accident was detained against his will at the scene by Police Officers, and had his vehicle seized, despite the fact that it was clear he was not involved in the collision and all other witnesses had been allowed to leave. Such a detention without arrest was unlawful, and he received substantial damages for false imprisonment. This case highlights an insidious form of Police abuse of power – Officers telling individuals that they are ‘detained’ despite knowing that they have no grounds to arrest them.”
My client Sohale Rahman, a middle- aged British Muslim, was driving home through Nottinghamshire, one night in May 2018, when to his horror he witnessed what proved to be a fatal road traffic collision between a cyclist and another motorist. Like another Good Samaritan whom I have written about recently, Sohale stopped at the scene – at first to try to offer assistance to the victim and then, upon realising that the person was dead, to do his duty as a good citizen and call the Police – only to find himself, effectively, incarcerated at the roadside by the Police, detained against his will without arrest and despite the fact that it was clear and obvious who the offending motorist was.
Shortly before the accident, Sohale’s vehicle was overtaken by a BMW motorcar. Sohale then witnessed the BMW entering a traffic- light controlled crossroad junction, where the BMW collided with a cyclist emerging from a road on the right, the impact throwing the cyclist into the air and, as it transpired, killing him.
Sohale stopped his vehicle at the junction and ran to assist the cyclist, only to realise, as he approached the body, that the man was obviously dead.
In a state of shock, Sohale ran back to his car and dialed “999”. He told the Emergency Operator about the incident and tried to explain his location.
As Sohale was speaking to the Operator, the BMW driver ran towards him shouting “I’m going to be sent down for this”. Sohale told the man to calm down.
When Sohale had finished speaking to the Operator, he repositioned his car to block the southbound carriageway of the road, but noticed that traffic was still passing by on the northbound carriageway. The deceased cyclist was lying almost exactly in the middle of the road and so Sohale then sought to direct the northbound traffic, as he was concerned that someone might drive over the deceased’s body.
Another witness to the accident had also stopped at the scene – the driver of a van who had initially been behind Sohale, but who after the collision had overtaken Sohale, driven through the ‘debris field’ in the junction, and who had then stopped ahead of the BMW itself.
Thereafter another car stopped behind Sohale’s vehicle. The two women in this car explained that they were nurses on their way to work. They also approached the deceased cyclist, and confirmed that he had probably died because of a head injury.
The collision had occurred at approximately 9.50pm. Shortly before 10pm an Officer of Nottinghamshire Police arrived at the scene in a marked Police car. He stopped all traffic from entering the incident scene, and initially told both Sohale and the nurses that they could not leave the scene.
The van driver now approached the Police Officer, said he had confiscated the BMW driver’s keys, and handed them over to the Officer.
The Officer then asked Sohale what he had witnessed, and Sohale recited events.
Sohale also noticed that there was an articulated lorry which had stopped behind the nurses’ vehicle; a yet- further witness to the events, or at least their aftermath.
This was not a complex investigation. It was quite clear that it was the BMW which had hit the cyclist. There was obvious impact damage to the BMW and both Sohale and the van driver had identified the BMW as the offending vehicle.
Sohale, who like most of us, had never seen a person violently killed in front of him – was very shocked and disturbed, whereas the numerous Police Officers who now began to gather at the scene displayed a professional sang froid which Sohale considered to be verging on the disrespectful, given that the Officers seemed to be chatting casually whilst standing around the deceased’s body. Sohale made reference to this and was pleased to see that arrangements were at least made to cover the dead man with a blanket.
Sohale then recalls praying on the road behind his car. These events had happened during the Muslim religious month of Ramadan and Sohale was understandably anxious to leave this horrible scene behind and to get home, not least so that he could, in accordance with his religious beliefs, pray, eat and drink in preparation for his next day of fasting.
At approximately 11pm the Officers present gave the two female nurses permission to leave the scene, but when Sohale asked if he could leave, the officer who had been the first to arrive at the scene replied that he could not.
Sometime thereafter, a female Officer invited Sohale to sit in a Police car. He remained there, having a difficult time processing the situation, until, at approximately midnight, the female Officer (now known to be PC Butler) joined Sohale in the Police car and told him that she was investigating and had to “rule out murder first” and then go down the list from the most serious offence. She seemed to be implying that Sohale was the target of her investigation. My client expressed surprise that he could possibly be considered a ‘murder suspect’ when he was just a witness. He asked PC Butler when he could go home, and was told that the Police would let him know when he could go, but that it was not yet.
PC Butler then took Sohale’s statement under caution (i.e. as if he was indeed under suspicion of a criminal offence) and recorded it in her notepad.
Despite having provided his statement, Sohale was still not told that he was free to leave and remained at the scene more anxious and confused than ever. He saw the deceased’s body being taken on a wheeled stretcher into an ambulance.
Eventually, at about half- past midnight, the Police informed Sohale that they were seizing his vehicle, in order to check for debris underneath it.
Sohale told the Officers that he had not driven through the debris field, and that he did not consent to their taking of his vehicle, but the Officers informed him that they had the power to do so regardless of his wishes.
The first Police Officer who had arrived on the scene then told Sohale that they could take him to a hotel for the night and he could get a train home in the morning. He refused this offer as it would have caused him unnecessary expense and difficulty, especially in terms of his work commitments and religious obligations for the next day, as there was no train statement near his home.
Instead, Sohale was directed to another Police car where the Officers said they would drive him to the nearest Police Station. It was now approximately 1am.
Whilst he was sitting in the back of this Police car, Sohale noticed that the only two vehicles left remaining at the scene at this late hour were his own and the BMW. The van driver had evidently been allowed to leave – despite the fact that Sohale had actually witnessed that vehicle driving through the junction/debris field – as had the two nurses and the lorry driver.
Sohale began to suspect that he was being treated differently by the Officers, i.e. more harshly and with greater suspicion, because of the colour of his skin.
Sohale was then driven to Newark Police Station, where the Police called him a taxi (at Sohale’s expense). Sohale did not finally get home until approximately 3am, extremely shaken by what had transpired and feeling besmirched by the way he had been treated, as if he were the guilty party. There was no doubt in his mind that he had been held at the scene of the accident against his will, and he wanted answers as to what possible power Nottinghamshire Police had to do this.
Seeking Justice: Had Sohale Been Wrongly Detained at the Roadside?
Sohale initially tried to represent himself, writing a letter of claim against Nottinghamshire Police for what he had undergone. It was a commendable effort, but met by East Midlands Police Legal Services with only delay, denial and a derisory offer of £290.70 for ‘travel expenses’… as well as the incorrect assertion that this would be considered by the Court to be only a “Small Claims” matter. The Police maintained that all of their Officers had behaved impeccably and that Sohale was not held against his will at any point.
Sohale did not approach me for advice and assistance until March 2024. If he had been pursuing a claim for personal injury this would have presented some difficulties, as the primary limitation period which covers personal injury claims is 3 years from the date of an event. But Sohale was not claiming to have been physically mistreated by the Officers; rather he was seeking restitution for the deprivation of his liberty and also what he considered to be the illegal – though fortunately only temporary – confiscation of his vehicle.
As claims for false imprisonment and trespass to goods both have a 6-year limitation period applicable to them, I was able to advise Sohale that he was still (just) in time to bring these claims and I immediately took steps to draft and issue Court proceedings.
On reviewing the evidence, I formed the view that Sohale had been unlawfully detained, from approximately 11pm (when he was told he had to remain at the scene) until he was finally able to leave Newark Police Station at approximately 1.25am. During this time, according to my analysis, Sohale had become trapped in that “twilight zone” which the Police are remarkably apt at generating when they want to detain and/or question a person who would otherwise leave the scene, but whom they do not have a basis to lawfully arrest. I have written about this type of Police behaviour before– with Officers often relying upon the public’s hazy knowledge of the full extent and limitations of Police power, plus the ambient level of social subservience to Police uniformed authority. It was quite clear to me that the Officers present had no power to detain Sohale, but notwithstanding this, they implied that they did by refusing his requests to leave.
I also advised Sohale that despite the fact that he was not claiming physical injury, he was entitled to seek aggravated damages for what were real and significant injuries to his feelings – his loss of liberty exacerbated by his being baselessly informed that he was potentially a murder suspect (and interviewed under a criminal caution), as well as the fact that he, the only non- white witness to events, was the one who was detained at the scene after all other civilians had been allowed to leave, and was the one whose vehicle had been seized. Such treatment may not have been motivated by racism, but in the context of the Officers’ wholly unreasonable behaviour, it was perfectly understandable that my client should perceive it in this way.
I am now pleased to report, that despite Nottinghamshire Police filing a Defence to the Court proceedings, in which they both maintain that Sohale had not been detained by their Officers and that his vehicle had been lawfully seized for examination, their actions, have as is so often the case, resounded louder than their words, and I recently concluded an agreement with them for the Chief Constable to pay my client substantial damages, plus his legal costs.
Sohale did the right thing in stopping at the scene of this shocking accident, and now he has got the right result in terms of restitution for the Police’s callous and almost casual abuse of power on that night. If the Police want their power to be respected, they must first respect the public – and that encompasses communication, compassion and civility.
Read more about this case on the BBC website.
How you can help me
I hope that you have enjoyed reading this week’s blog post and the many others available on this website. If you have, then I would like to ask you a favour – in a world in which large and non-specialist law firms (generally from a personal injury background) are increasingly throwing huge marketing budgets into online advertising in order to ‘capture’ Actions Against the Police clients – I need your help to ensure that those in need of real expert advice come to the best place for representation. If you value the insights and expertise which I share on this blog, and the results which I have achieved for the people whose stories are recounted here, please post a positive review on Trustpilot to get the word out. Every 5 star review I receive makes a big difference in helping those who need the right advice to come to the right place. Thank you!
You must be logged in to post a comment.