A police officer has been charged after allegedly driving his unmarked police car through a red light on the Portway in Bristol and crashing into a woman’s car.
PC Daniel Fortune, a serving officer with Avon and Somerset Police, has been told to appear in court in Cheltenham this week, facing a charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
The charge follows an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) into an incident which happened on the morning of September 6, 2023. A spokesperson for the IOPC said the 41-year-old officer was on his way to a police incident and behind the wheel of an unmarked Volvo XC390, when it passed through a red light at the junction of Hung Road in Shirehampton and was involved in a collision with a Kia Stonic car being driven by a member of the public.
“The woman driver sustained serious injuries and the passenger in the Volvo was also injured,” said the IOPC spokesperson. “At the end of our investigation in May 2024, we referred our report to the Crown Prosecution Service, who subsequently decided to bring the charge last month.”
The collision took place at the Hung Road traffic light junction on the A4 Portway at around 11.20am. That day, Bristol Live reported that police said the woman driving the other car was taken to hospital with what were ‘potentially life-changing injuries’.
In October 2023, Bristol Live reported that the driver of the unmarked police car was facing both criminal charges and an internal disciplinary. PC Fortune will appear before Cheltenham Magistrates Court on Thursday, February 27.