Child hit by Kent Police drone after cable ‘not seen’ by pilot

A Kent Police officer who quickly launched a drone which then crashed injuring a child had not spotted an overhead cable, an investigation has found.

The victim was left with a serious hand injury requiring treatment in a London hospital after the drone crashed in Sheerness, Kent, in August.

The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) said: “The cable hazard had not been identified during the rapid deployment.”

Kent Police said it could not comment due to an ongoing inquiry by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Kent Police previously said officers had been called to reports of an assault on the Isle of Sheppey and had deployed the DJI M30T drone to search for a suspect.

The aircraft was a high-performance professional drone weighing about 4kg (9lb) and equipped with a thermal camera as well as wide and zoom cameras.

Neither Kent Police, the IOPC or the AAIB would be drawn on the age of the child or the specific injuries they had sustained.

It is the first time the IOPC has investigated a case of a UK civilian being injured by a police drone.

A special inspector has already been handed a misconduct notice.

The crash happened at Strode Crescent at 16:00 BST on 2 August, the BBC first revealed.

Danny Ashton-Keenan, who lives on the road, told the BBC the emergency services had attended in large numbers.

“I heard a commotion and went outside to see the start of the street was closed off by police and ambulances,” he said.

“There was a open, empty drone storage box on the pavement on one side of the street.

“The crashed drone was on the other side with paramedics treating somebody.”

The AAIB said it had carried out a “record-only” investigation based “wholly, or largely” on information provided by the drone’s pilot.

An AAIB spokesperson said: “In this case, having reviewed the circumstances and available evidence, we concluded that a full investigation was unlikely to yield new safety findings that would benefit wider aviation safety.

“For this reason, a ‘record-only’ investigation was conducted.”

They said that while details could be obtained from other sources “the information provided cannot be assured”.

The spokesperson added: “We recognise that any incident involving injury, particularly to a member of the public, is deeply concerning for those affected.”