A team of officers and staff who worked on a terrible fatal road traffic collision which resulted in three members of the same family losing their lives have been Commended by the Chief Constable.

On 21 June 2020 – Father’s Day – a car mounted the kerb in Abbey Road in Dalton and struck three pedestrians. The father and his two children – along with their pet dog – were killed in the collision.

In what was one of the worst road traffic collisions in the county in living memory, the team worked with great resilience and professionalism at all stages of the investigation.

Included were those who attended the scene in the moments immediately after the collision, and began the forensic examination, to those who subsequently investigated the crash and the officers who undertook the challenging and emotional role of liaising direct with the family.

The investigation resulted in the driver admitting charges including dangerous driving and drink driving and being sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The officers and staff commended were:

PC Laura Stewart
PC Tim Fowkes
PC Dugald Cunningham
Sgt Jack Stabler
PC Katie Twentyman
Nikki Knott

Chief Superintendent Matt Kennerley said: “Every single officer and staff member who worked on the incident and subsequent investigation were impacted heavily by what was a true tragedy.

“However, those involved were still able to work on behalf of the family and the community with great resilience and professionalism in responding to all aspects of the aftermath of the incident.

“It is an incident no officers hopes to ever have to be involved and I hope we never see a similar incident repeated again in the county. However, those involved deserve great credit for their exceptional work, which was more than worth of Commendation.”