Despite not being able to swim, two police officers did all they reasonably could to save a 15-year-old boy who drowned in a river near Derry/Londonderry in 2010, a Police Ombudsman investigation has concluded.
Kyle Bonnes drowned after entering the Faughan River at Drumahoe while fleeing from the officers on 7 April 2010.
He and a friend had been drinking in playing fields and ran off when approached by the officers, who were responding to a report of youths causing a disturbance.
The incident was later referred by police to the Police Ombudsman’s Office for independent investigation.
Police Ombudsman investigators spoke to civilians, and police and other emergency service personnel, examined recordings of police radio transmissions and other relevant police records.
They found that although neither of the officers had been able to swim, and even if they could it would have been too dangerous for them to have entered the water themselves.
No life saving equipment in the area at the time of the tragedy but it has since been installed.
Instead, they immediately requested assistance and, in the absence of any life-saving equipment in the area, used branches to try to reach Kyle. Rescue equipment has been installed since the tragedy.
Kyle entered the river at an area renowned for being deep and treacherous. Evidence from the Rivers Agency showed that the river was, at the time of the incident, fast flowing and dangerous. A nearby gauge registered a flow rate of 12 tons of water per second.
A civilian witness said he heard an officer shout at Kyle not to go into the river, then immediately radioing for help when he did. He said the officers tried to reach him and shouted for him to try to come closer to the bank.
A member of the public also swam out from the other side of the river but was unable to reach him.
Kyle’s body was later recovered about 20m (60 ft) downstream by a member of the Foyle Search and Rescue team which, along with other police and emergency services, had arrived in response to the officers’ request for assistance.
He was taken to Altnagelvin Hospital, but efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. A subsequent inquest concluded that he had died from “freshwater drowning”.
It would have been extremely unwise for the officers to have entered the water.
Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire said it would have been “extremely unwise” for the officers to have entered the water “with no other life saving equipment available to them”.
“Their actions were appropriate in the circumstances,” he said.