A 13-year-old RAF cadet who was hit by a police car with a faulty siren died 17 years later after his family decided further surgery was too risky for the injuries he had sustained, an inquest has heard.
Greg Love passed away in January as a result of the severe brain damage he suffered after being knocked off his BMX bike in December 2006.
The marked police car was responding to a 999 call in Bournemouth, Dorset, at the time, and struck Greg at between 28 to 34mph, having slowed from 50mph upon seeing the teen rider.
It has previously been claimed that another police unit was already at the scene of the low-level emergency and there was no need for the car to hurry towards it.
The brain injuries Greg suffered in the collision left him in a vegetative state and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
An inquest has heard that Greg Love, who was 13 when he was hit by a police car with a faulty siren, died 17 years later from the injuries he sustained in the 2006 accident
The brain injuries Greg suffered in the collision tragically left him in a vegetative state and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life
He also suffered with bowel ischemia, epilepsy, scoliosis and pneumonia.
A CT scan weeks before his death showed that Greg, by then aged 31, needed a major bowel operation to survive.
However, his family and doctors decided the risks of the surgery would leave him with such a low quality of life that they began a process of palliative care.
He died at his care home in Ferndown, Dorset, on January 3, 2024.
The cause of death was bowel ischemia, pneumonia, a traumatic brain injury and epilepsy.
In a statement to the Bournemouth inquest, Greg’s father, Christopher Love, said his son suffered a catastrophic brain injury and became incontinent and was in need of 24-hour care.
He added: ‘The scoliosis was so bad that he could not be in his wheelchair for a long time so he needed help to prevent further curvature.
‘When the bowel illness got worse due to his condition we had to take the hard decision that it would not be in his best interest for the surgery to take place.
‘The complication of the accident and his brain trauma led to his death aged 31.’
Dr Salman Heydari, a gastrointestinal surgeon, told the hearing that a bowel obstruction required surgery.
But the medic said if Greg had survived the operation his ‘quality of life would have been so poor’ and it was agreed surgery was not in his best interest.
Dr Emma Murphy, who worked as a rehabilitation consultant for Greg from 2021 until his death, said: ‘We agreed that he would not be resuscitated if he suffered a cardiac arrest and we would meet with a palliative care team.
‘There is a clear link between the accident and his death 16 years later.’
Greg had been a pupil at a grammar school in Bournemouth and was cycling home from a cadets class on the night of the collision.
He was wearing his RAF cadet uniform and had an iPod with a headphone in one ear. He was not wearing his safety helmet which was in his rucksack.
Greg, pictured with his mother, Jill, passed away in January, 17 years after the accident that left him with life changing injuries
The accident was investigated by the former Independent Police Complaints Commission which concluded the driver of the police car was not at fault.
It was, however, admitted that the vehicle’s siren was not in use at the time and that the siren was faulty.
Inspector Joe Wheable, of Dorset police’s roads policing team, said the incident happened at around 10.05pm in fine weather on a road with good visibility and lighting.
He said: ‘There are no specific guidelines for using lights and sirens. They were using the blue lights on the vehicle, but the sirens were defective.
‘He may not have used the sirens even if they had been working.’
The jury at the inquest returned a narrative verdict, recording that ‘Greg Love was crossing the road when he was hit by a police officer who was driving a car with his lights on but without any sirens.’
Afterwards Mr Love said: ‘We are obviously pleased that it is over and we are pleased that the jury and the coroner found that Greg’s death was down to the incident that happened all those years ago.’
He refused to make any comment about the police involvement in his son’s death.
