A police officer’s prank backfires, leading to a collision with another police vehicle during an arrest operation in Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire: So, there was this wild incident where a police officer, Joshua Thompson, crashed his car into another police vehicle. It all happened during what was supposed to be a light-hearted moment, but it turned into a bit of a disaster.
Thompson rolled up to a group of officers who were getting ready for a high-risk arrest. He thought it would be funny to drive slowly at his female colleague, Pc Freya Kent, just to get a reaction. But instead of just tapping her, he accidentally hit a parked police car. Oops!
The whole thing was witnessed by a couple of bystanders, and both cars ended up with some minor scratches. At first, Thompson didn’t even report the crash right away. When he finally did, he tried to play it off as a bad parking job.
During the misconduct hearing, it was clear that he didn’t mean any harm. The panel noted that it was just a prank that went sideways. But they also pointed out that it was a really bad time for a joke, especially right before an important arrest.
Thompson had a history of issues, too. He’d already received a warning for mishandling a broken Taser. In the end, he left the force before they could make a decision about his future, but they said he would have been fired if he hadn’t. He can still appeal the decision, though.
