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news
Credit: Wikipedia Armed police called to crash which left cyclist with serious injuries
Armed response police officers were called out to the scene of a crash which left a cyclist with serious injuries.
Devon and Cornwall Police says its roads policing team and armed response were called out the incident on Western Way in Exeter on Saturday night at just after 8.30pm - involving the driver of a BMW and a pedal cyclist.
A statement issued by the force did not clarify exactly why armed response officers were sent to the crash.
The female cyclist sustained serious injuries as a result of the crash.
Police are working to find out what caused the crash, and anyone who may have witnessed the incident is being asked to come forward and assist police with their enquiries.
A statement issued by Devon and Cornwall Police reads: "At 8.33pm on Saturday (August 7), police were notified of a two-vehicle road traffic collision on Western Way at the junction with Barnfield Road, Exeter.
"The collision involved a black BMW 420D and a pedal cycle. As a result of the collision, the pedal cyclist suffered serious injuries.
"Officers from the Alliance’s Roads Policing Team, No Excuse Team and armed response attended the scene."
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30 comments
What does a No Excuse team do? Between the road police, no excuse team and armed response it sounds like judge, jury and executioner 😉
Reminds me of the joke about the inquest into a collision involving a horse rider. The judge was puzzled by the sight of the rider in a full body cast, and asked him “if you were so seriously injured why did you tell the attending policeman you were fine?”
The rider answered “well, it happened like this. I was riding my horse, Major, when the truck came around the bend on the wrong side of the road and struck us. I went flying off and landed in a ditch on one side of the road and Major in a ditch the other side. When I came to, there was a policeman stand over me resting his hand on his pistol. I asked “what happened to Major?” He walked away and a short time later I heard a single gunshot. The policeman came back and said “your horse had a broken leg so I shot him. Now, how are you feeling…”
"I. Am. The. Law."
They're the elite escalation point, handpicked from the renowned Now Come Come, That's Not Really Good Enough squad.
They actually share training facilities and strategy with the You Really Should Try Harder force - true story.
I think this is a bit of a non-issue. ARV officers are highly medically trained and so it is not uncommon in a serious RTC for them to be dispatched to the scene if necessary. There is also the possibility that they were just one of the closest units.
Were armed police called, or were the police called and the nearest unit available was the ARV?
As Bungle comments below, the key part of teh story (according to the information we have to hand) is the serious injuries to the rider.
A cyclist has been seriously injured and the news is that armed police officers attended. I would be much more interested in how the cyclist is getting on and how it happened. I hope she makes a speedy and full recovery.
Why does the make of car always get reported but not the make of bicycle? Alternative headline: driver of a car hit a rider of a green Cannondale, leaving her with....
If you get hit by a car it's irrelevant what colour it was or whether it's German/French/whatever. Who cares. It's the driver that matters.
I'm pleased when they report the make of the car. BMWs, for me, are easily the most common car that pass me in a dangerous way. Had one today at the end of 80kms of lots of great drivers.
BMWs, for me, are easily the most common car that pass me in a dangerous way
This goes without saying! This one is pleading 'not guilty' to crossing the white line! He wasn't charged with close-passing- this must have been to preserve Lancashire's record of never prosecuting for that
Yawn @efail and wtjs
Try Googling confirmation bias.
same is true of taxis.
Try Googling confirmation bias
Yawn unjustifiably superior attitude from squirrels who, I suspect, own the preferred killing machine for psycho-drivers. I don't need to Google something I am very familiar with.
I'm pleased that armed response officers attending a scene is still remarkable (in the true sense of the word). And also the fact they weren't already busy dealing with an incident which required them.
involving the driver of a BMW and a pedal cyclist
No surprise there! It's getting worse because the nutter BMW drivers are encouraged by police (in Lancashire anyway) refusal to take action whatever the drivers do. This one PK14 HLW, yesterday came past close and fast but was then held up at lights. I told him "Don't come so close again", he then threatened to "f******g flatten me" and "if you talk to me like that you will get knocked off". It's all on the video, but Lancashire Constabulary are now taking over 2 weeks to even look at online incident reports (this is designed so they can say it's 'too late to process'), so I have phoned this one in as well. They won't like that!
Having been made aware that it was a serious RTC, maybe they were simply the closest available unit?
Highly unlikely. Armed units aren't mobile and need to have a reason to carry arms to an incident.
Wrong, the response usits are mobile, all the time. hence they are referred to as ARVs "Armed Response Vehicles", in this case it was likely a case that they were the closest unit, the reports indicated a risk that prompted them to react, or there was an existing marker against the car.
Quite right. Armed officers may be on duty in a wide range of configurations, in ARVs, in a tactical team, in close protection, etc. Any decision to deploy an armed officer/team to a specific incident will be based on force policy and immediate needs in the circumstances. Earlier comment just isn't right.
As I understand it, some or all armed officers have advanced first responder training, akin to paramedic training, specifically to deal with the types of wounds likely from the types of violence they are there to deal with. It would be reasonable to consider a vehicle impact on a cyclist might cause the types of injuries that an armed unit might be better prepared to deal with, if they are first on scene in a rural area ahead of paramedics/FRS.
The fact that armed officers were first on scene is of minor interest. We should be focusing on how we make the roads safer in the first place. I don't care if the first police to arrive come in a tank - as long as they have a decent medical kit.
I regularly see our local armed response team, with their sidearm, in our local Tesco getting a meal deal.
They are constantly out on the roads in a black BMW.
When they say an armed response unit "attended" perhaps they mean "was already on the scene" ...?
From the Devon & Cornwall police FAQ page:
Q: Why do I sometime see officers with guns at incidents where there is no need for firearms, such as a road traffic collision?
A: Firearms officers have a standing authority to overtly carry a sidearm whilst on duty. They carry additional skills such as traffic policing, therefore will routinely assist at other incidents such as road traffic collisions (RTCs) and will also assist with general police duties as they are sworn constables.
Nah - it's because it was a black BMW coupe, armed response is standard.
No it will be the same setup as Norfolk & Suffolks traffic team they are merged with the armed police unit, so it's a combined Roads & Armed Police Team, they call themselves "Raptors".
They even have a plastic dinosaur they take to county shows for their stand to reinforce the branding, but until the local press got used to it they were forever stating the armed police had been deployed to deal with some traffic collision or road policing event.
it's a combined Roads & Armed Police Team, they call themselves "Raptors"
These traffic police are pathetically desperate to make themselves sound dramatic- in Lancashire it's TacOps. The branding exercise doesn't make them any better, though- I have a prized recent email here from a Lancashire TacOps 'Tactical Operations | Roads Policing | Dash Camera specialist ' who excuses a close passing motorist by saying that if I had looked over my shoulder I could have seen him coming. You can't make useful police officers out of very stupid people with no appreciation of cycling. I wrote to him asking how much of my time I should be spending looking backwards and what I was intended to do with the information that someone was heading for a close pass at 40 mph. Presumably I was supposed to dive leftwards to get out of his way, but he never replied. This really is institutionalised victim blaming, brought to you by Lancashire Constabulary, unencumbered as it is by thought processes:
From a cyclist safety view point should a deviation of position be required, on this occasion to overtake parked vehicles, a shoulder check would have highlighted the fact that a vehicle was approaching.
German car driver, who'd have thought.
How'd you know the driver was German...
Haha, ok, someone driving a German car, who'd have thought.
Fixed it!
😝
Bloody hell I though we threw them out after Brexit.