A Surrey Police officer has been relieved of frontline duties for deliberately driving a police car into a cow twice—an incident for which Home Secretary James Cleverly has called for a “full, urgent explanation.”
This comes after a video of the incident that occurred in Staines-upon-Thames on Friday evening quickly went viral on social media, raising concerns from various quarters and attracting mixed reactions.
In the video obtained by Xclusiveloaded News, the cow is seen falling and skidding metres down a road after being hit by the police car, after which the vehicle approaches for a second time just when it looked like the cow was trying to get back on its feet.
This time, the cow’s head and part of its torso appeared stuck underneath the front of the car as two officers got out.
While the animal, a 10-month-old breeding heifer called Beau Lucy, is reported to have sustained no broken bones and is recovering in a barn with other calves, Kate, a partner of the farmer who owns the cow, says it could still die of shock.
Kate described the incident as “horrific” while speaking with newsmen about the incident. She opined that the footage looked like they tried to kill the cow, adding that the officer who rammed the cow should lose his job.
She said, “Honestly, when I saw the video, I thought he should lose his job. I just thought it was disgusting; I couldn’t believe it.
“I don’t know if it was his decision to drive at the animal or whether he was instructed to, but the police, when they got out of the car looked pretty agitated themselves.”
Meanwhile, the Surrey Police, in a statement that announced the removal of the officer from frontline duty, appealed to the public for the distress the incident has caused and promised that a thorough investigation would be carried out on the matter.
Surrey Police Deputy Chief Constable, DCC Nev Kemp, said, “I fully appreciate the distress our handling of this incident has caused and will ensure that it is thoroughly and diligently investigated.”
“At this time, the officer who was driving the police car has been removed from frontline duties pending the outcome of these investigations,” he added.
Surrey Police also said the cow suffered “a large cut to one leg and cuts and grazes” and was being monitored by a vet, explaining that the decision to use a car came after officers “tried a number of options to safely capture the cow” over a period of hours and were “extremely concerned about the public’s safety.”
“Officers… over a period of a number of hours tried a number of options to safely capture the cow,” the police statement read.
“Unfortunately, these were unsuccessful, and the decision was made to stop it using a police car,” DCC Kemp said, adding that the police had received several calls from the public saying that the cow was running at people.
He also disclosed that efforts to identify the owner of the cow have been unsuccessful as of press time, but a referral has been made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) as well as an internal standards department.
“Why these were unsuccessful and what more could and should have been done will form a key part of the investigation,” he said.
Kate, who spoke to newsmen, argued that the cow “wasn’t that out of control, just spooked.”
She claimed that Beau Lucy, along with other cows, were on the well-fenced Staines Moor and she believed it may have escaped by swimming across a river, adding, “I couldn’t believe she ended up where she did.”
A model and animal sanctuary owner, Jodie Marsh, has requested that the owner of the cow let her rehome it.
In an Instagram story later on Sunday night, Marsh said, “If anybody knows the owner, I would like to buy the cow off her. It’s a heifer cow, it’s a slaughter cow – it’s going to go to slaughter.
“She’s saying that we can’t rehome because it’s a cow bred for meat. So, I would like to therefore buy her and give her sanctuary for the rest of her life at Fripps [Farm].”
