A police decision to ram an escaped cow with a patrol car is now being investigated as a criminal matter following 290 house visits, with officers handing out 210 leaflets and speaking to 75 witnesses.
Surrey Police was slammed after footage was posted online of a 10-month-old calf, Beau Lucy, being rammed by a police 4×4 after midnight on June 15 following reports of a loose animal in Staines-upon-Thames.
On Thursday, the force said as part of its investigation it had made 290 house-to-house visits, handed out 210 leaflets along the route the calf took, contacted 75 witnesses and received more than 250 video clips.
The investigation, which is also the subject of an internal misconduct review, is being led by the professional standards department and overseen by a senior investigating officer.
Deputy Chief Constable Nev Kemp said: ‘This significant update demonstrates why a thorough investigation is important, as it ensures all potential criminal and misconduct matters are clearly understood. This does, of course, take time.’
A police decision to ram an escaped cow with a patrol car (seen) is now being investigated as a criminal matter following 290 house visits, with officers handing out 210 leaflets and speaking to 75 witnesses
Surrey Police was slammed after footage was posted online of a 10-month-old calf, Beau Lucy (pictured), being rammed by a police 4×4 following reports of a loose animal in Staines-upon-Thames
The calf’s owners, named only as Rob and Kate, said last month that allowing Surrey Police to investigate themselves made it easier for the force to justify the action taken. They added: ‘We still hold the thought that the handling of this situation was cruel and barbaric’
He added that the force is ‘committed to providing significant updates relating to this incident on our website as and when we have them’.
The calf’s owners, named only as Rob and Kate, said last month that allowing Surrey Police to investigate themselves made it easier for the force to justify the action taken.
They added: ‘We still hold the thought that the handling of this situation was cruel and barbaric.’
Surrey Police said officers tried a number of ways to capture the calf after reports that it was running at members of the public and had damaged a car, before the decision was taken to stop it by force using a patrol car.
The squad car’s driver was suspended from frontline duties amid the backlash on June 16.
The cow was returned to Rob’s farm, located near the border between Surrey and Middlesex, with bruises, and has since been recovering ‘remarkably well’.
Witnesses at the time claimed the cow was of ‘no harm to anyone’ and berated officers for their ‘heavy-handed response’.
A source told MailOnline in the following days that police handed Beau Lucy to ‘two members of the public with a trailer’ who later asked her owner for a ‘cost of recovery fee’.
The route taken by Beau Lucy after escaping from Staines Moor in Surrey and swimming across a river
The cow was eventually returned to its farm, located near the border between Surrey and Middlesex, with bruises, and has since been recovering ‘remarkably well’
A Surrey Police spokesperson then said: ‘Following the injury caused to the cow, two members of the public offered to use their trailer to transport her to a nearby smallholding accompanied by police.
‘Once identified, the owner then collected the cow from the smallholding. The members of the public have sought costs for providing this transportation service.
‘Surrey Police intends to make a compassionate payment to the owner of the cow. This will cover both the cost of recovery of the cow from the scene and the cost of immediate critical care for the cow by a veterinarian.
‘The latest update we have on the condition of the calf is that she continues to recover under the treatment of a vet and has been reunited with her herd.’
