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Convoy of cops chased grandad
Neal Keeling7/ 8/2008
A BIKER grandad died after a 50-minute police chase involving several squad cars and the force plane.
And it emerged today all officers wanted to do was check his documents. Now EIGHT of them have been suspended from driving duties.
Alan Long, 54, was the 25th person killed in six years on Greater Manchester roads in incidents involving GMP vehicles - one of the worst records in the country.
The police control room tried to call off the chase a number of times, but the pursuit went on.
Officers had signalled for Mr Long to pull over because of a driving document offence. He failed to stop and was chased for more than 50 minutes, with a number of vehicles joining the pursuit. The force plane was also scrambled.
Senior officers within GMP are understood to be furious and an investigation has been launched by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
One senior source said: "There is concern within GMP as to whether the correct procedures were followed.
"At one stage, apparently, a convoy of police vehicles was involved in the pursuit."
The chase began in Denton and Mr Long drove on and off the M60 until he was involved in a crash with a car in Stalybridge. He was taken to Tameside General after the Friday crash and died on Saturday.
The father-of-five, from Denton, had 13 grandchildren and was described as a `passionate biker'. His wife Julie said he `lived life to the full'.
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: "GMP can confirm that eight police officers have had their driving authority withdrawn."
At least one of the police vehicles was an unmarked car from the Traffic Vehicle Crime Unit.
The IPCC probe will look at how many vehicles were involved and whether they followed correct procedure. They must also establish why police first wanted Mr Long to stop.
The IPCC published a study on police accidents last year and chairman Nick Hardwick said they believed bike pursuits `can be particularly dangerous as the rider is much more vulnerable' than a car driver.
He added: "We recommend these pursuits should be limited to instances where serious crime has been committed."
Most recent 2 of 12 user comments
I also feel that I have to comment on the words of his daughter ... "and for him in the vw he suffered whiplash at least his family arnt planning a funeral!!! " .... I AM CERTAINLY GLAD THE VW DRIVERS FAMILY ARE NOT PLANNING A FUNERAL as it was not his fault that he was involved !!!! If you are requested to stop, you SHOULD stop, no two ways about it.
A very sad state of affairs all of this, it could so easily have been avoided, my sincere condolences do go out to his family.
9/08/2008 at 01:49
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