Police went to McDonald’s before helping suicidal woman

PC Gavin Bateman and Tony Stephenson had received a call, graded ‘significant’ by the Met, shortly after midnight on April 16.

But rather than head straight to the home of a woman in Poplar, east London, deemed vulnerable by the London Ambulance Service, they waited 24 minutes before heading there.

Instead, the pair drove to the local fast food restaurant to pick up some refreshments and complete ‘administrative tasks’ before continuing with the call, a misconduct panel heard.

But by the time they reached the woman’s house, almost 40 minutes after a friend had called 999 when she received a suicidal text from the woman, the 22-year-old was found dead.

Yet today a Metropolitan Police disciplinary hearing gave the two police officers written warnings after they admitted misconduct but denied gross misconduct.

Amy Clarke, representing the Met, told the hearing: ‘The call was graded ‘S’, meaning significant, the more significant grading is ‘I’ which means the officer has to attend immediately.

‘PC Stephenson confirmed to the contact centre that they had accepted that call and that they were en route, that was at 00.03.

‘The CAD (dispatch system) went through to the vehicle so the officers could read the details which said ‘police requested for psychotic illness, significant risk to herself or others.

‘The officers decided not to proceed straight to the address and went to a nearby McDonald’s where they purchased refreshments before driving to a roundabout where they drank their drinks.

‘At 12.37 the officer’s left and went to [the woman’s] address.’

An inquest at Poplar Coroner’s Court in November 2015 found that the woman committed suicide at her home before the 999 call was made.

Miss Clarke said: ‘This was extremely serious, it was woefully short of the standards that the public expect of police officers.

‘The decision to go and get a hot drink as opposed to driving a short distance away was completely unjustified.’

PCs Bateman and Stephenson admitted misconduct and the panel agreed it had been an ‘honest mistake’.

The pair said Met guidelines were that they had 60 minutes to respond to a ‘significant’ and that if the call was graded as I they would have responded immediately.

Gross misconduct chairman Akbar Khan said: ‘An ‘S’ grade requires a police officer at the scene within 0-60 minutes, but this does not mean you have 60 minutes to get there, this is the maximum you should take.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/28/police-officers-went-to-mcdonalds-while-on-999-call-instead-of-helping-suicidal-woman-6480212/