South Yorkshire Police has apologised and referred itself to the police watchdog after mistakenly identifying the victims of a fatal road traffic collision in Rotherham
The force admitted it wrongly informed one family that their teenage son was alive in hospital, when in fact he had died at the scene of the crash.
The single-vehicle collision happened on Todwick Road on December 13 and resulted in the death of a 17-year-old girl.
Police initially stated that a second victim was 17-year-old Trevor Wynn, while another teenager in hospital under sedation was believed to be 18-year-old Joshua Johnson.
However, following forensic testing, officers have now confirmed that Joshua Johnson was the second person who died in the collision, and that Trevor Wynn was the teenager being treated in hospital.
South Yorkshire Police said the error had been identified after formal identification procedures were completed.
Assistant Chief Constable Colin McFarlane said: “This has obviously come as a huge shock to everyone and we recognise the additional trauma this may cause.”We are supporting Trevor and all the families through this and have engaged specialist agencies to help provide that support. I have also offered to meet with both sets of parents as I am sure they will have many questions, most of which we are not able to answer yet but we are absolutely committed to understanding how this happened so it cannot happen again.
“We have taken the decision to refer ourselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to consider our role in the identification processes which were followed following the road traffic collision.
“We will co-operate fully with any subsequent investigation and will be led by the IOPC on the next steps to determine how this happened, and how we can ensure this never happens again in the future.”
An 18-year-old was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, and a 19-year-old was arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. Both remain on bail pending further enquiries.
