Whilst I admit that the police often have a difficult job to do and not all police interactions with the public turn out well for either side, I’m gobsmacked by this particular story. It’s a tale of the police not really giving a toss about the public with the result that one person ended up being killed in a hit and run road traffic accident.

Of course I accept that the prime cause of a man’s death was the unlicensed driver travelling at excessive speed, but in this case the way that the police handled the man who died before he died seems to me to be a little off and wrong. The core of this story was how officers of Greater Manchester Police attended at a disturbance at a home and arrested father of six Gareth Roper. They removed Mr Roper in order to calm the situation down but de-arrested him a short while later. This may sound to many like a reasonable response to a disturbance which is to remove one of the parties on a temporary basis. However officers from Greater Manchester Police seem to have had no concern at all for the safety of Mr Roper. They dumped him outside of a supermarket quite a while away but still in Wigan without shoes, money or his mobile phone. Whilst walking home Mr Roper was struck by a car driven by Jamie Evans and killed.

Sky News said:

A man who was killed in a hit-and-run on New Year’s Day in 2022 was left barefoot miles from home with no phone and no money by police, a court has been told.

Gareth Roper was killed by a motorist driving without a licence three miles from his home in Bamfurlong, near Wigan, who later handed himself into police the same day.

Jamie Evans, 30, of no fixed address, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.

In the early hours of the morning on New Year’s Day 2022, police attended the home of Mr Roper, after his wife reported he was “acting somewhat strangely”.

Bolton Crown Court was told his children were woken up during the disturbance and Mr Roper was taken away by police “to prevent any further difficulties”.

Sara Hague, for the prosecution, said Mr Roper was then de-arrested nine minutes later and left outside an Iceland store in Platt Bridge, Wigan.

“He was left barefoot and without any money or his mobile phone,” she said.

“The officers who left him at the scene are still under investigation.”

CCTV from before the collision just after 4.15am showed Mr Roper walking down the middle of the road on Lily Lane in Bamfurlong, with his jumper around his waist while whistling and clapping, the prosecutor said.

He was then hit by Evans, who was believed to be travelling at 55pmh in a 30mph zone, and was found dead at the scene.

Although I recognise that Mr Roper should not have been walking down the middle of a two way road, which is a two way minor road from what I can see from online maps, if Evans had not been driving so fast the collision and therefore Mr Roper’s death might have been avoided. But Mr Roper would not have even been in this position had not these police officers left Mr Roper barefoot, without means to get home or contact his family. I’m not at all surprised that the officers involved in this case are under investigation as what appears to have happened here is that the officers were called to an incident where a person was acting strangely and might well be temporarily mentally unwell and instead of handling this person with care, just dumped him miles away from his home. Whilst I concur that de-arresting the person once they had calmed down might have been the correct course of action, to dump this man miles away from his home with no shoes and no means to get home or contact his family seems to me to be a really bad dereliction of duty.