Tuesday 11 December 2012

“We just can't get our heads round what happened.”

The family of a teenager who died in a road accident while his moped was being followed by police have called for a fresh investigation. Relatives of Kyle Bartlett have asked the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to release statements taken from the police after the fatal collision.
The calls come as the family still believe that the police were to blame for the accident, which saw Kyle and his 15-year-old friend come off the bike while being followed by a police car.
They are in a minority, though. Everyone else can see the writing on the wall.
An IPCC investigation has already concluded there is no evidence to support the accusation. And a jury sitting at a two-day inquest returned a verdict of accidental death earlier this week.
So, what’s the issue?
Kyle's auntie Shelley Crisp, from Meir, said: "Although we accept the verdict we are not happy with the outcome because we feel there are still a lot of inconsistencies. We feel there are still a lot of things that don't add up in the police statements."
Such as?
The deputy coroner ruled that Kyle could have stopped if he had wanted to. But Mrs Crisp, aged 37, said: "As soon as we came out of court I was on the phone to the IPCC asking if we can have access to the police statements.
"We don't feel that we have had justice for Kyle because it is still unclear what happened. "We can't get closure until we have seen the witness statements for ourselves."
It’s not ‘closure’ (Ugh! How I loathe that particular Americanism..) you really want, is it?
Kyle, a former pupil of Blythe Bridge and Endon High school, had intended to join the Army. Shelley, a telesales supervisor, said: "He was just your typical 16-year-old lad who loved life. Everybody who knew him loved him for his massive smile."
Yes, yes. They always are, aren’t they?
Shelley said: "It has been devastating because he had his whole life ahead of him. Instead, he suffered for his own stupidity. We had to bury him on his 17th birthday."
Make up your mind, Shelley! Wasn’t it ‘the fault of the police’ a scant two paragraphs ago?
His aunt added: "We are going to keep fighting for this and I hope the IPCC will agree to our request. We just can't get our heads round what happened."
Oh, I think you can, if you try.

13 comments:

Curmudgeon said...

Omigod, yet another dead lad "who loved life"...

John Pickworth said...

“We just can't get our heads round what happened.”

Seems the son had the same problem getting his head around a Nissan Qashqai at speed.

Seriously though, no one wants to see someone so young lose their life but flogging this issue to death is hardly the best way to remember him.

ivan said...

"We know he was a dumb stupid idiot that was never going to make anything of himself but we want someone to tell us he wasn't." This is always the cry of dysfunctional parents that let their sprogs get away with everything. They never see it as their failing that caused the problem in the first place.

Blue Eyes said...

Well, no parent is going to say "yeah well he was a bit of a tearaway, I never really took any interest in what he was up to, he probably got involved in gangs/drugs/mugging because I locked him out of the house in the evening because I wanted my new boyfriend over"...

Anonymous said...

Bunny

But don't forget the 'smile'.

Andy said...

Another cheeky chappy lovable rogue who loved his old mum.

Or as most sensible people would say;

Another useless parasitic scrote who`s early death before he could breed has actually improved the Human gene pool.

The Jannie said...

So sad. It's always the smiling ones who would do anything for anybody who get it.

Dr Cromarty said...

Another 'Lovable rogue', huh?

Anonymous said...

Not even an aspiring architect or promising footballer either!

Ranter

MTG said...

It must irk commenters that the young man's mangled remains were not exhumed for a realistic Youtube reconstruction of the death chase.

A law is required to force any family smeared as 'dysfunctional', to cooperate in catharses for the Righteous.

David Gillies said...

"We had to bury him on his 17th birthday."

Why? Was he starting to pong? Couldn't they have waited till the day after?

JuliaM said...

"Omigod, yet another dead lad "who loved life"..."

All the clichés are there, aren't they?

"Seems the son had the same problem getting his head around a Nissan Qashqai at speed."

*chuckle*

"This is always the cry of dysfunctional parents that let their sprogs get away with everything."

Yup! But as Blue Eyes points out, sadly they are never going to realise it.

"A law is required to force any family smeared as 'dysfunctional', to cooperate in catharses for the Righteous."

We don't need a law. We know they just will...

Starship Fighter said...

Ouch. I just shrugged so hard I think I've pulled a muscle in the middle of my back... I take it I'm reading this correctly - they accept the verdict but are unwilling to accept the verdict because there is no hint of a suggestion that compensation may ensue? I expect that, following the Hillsborough debacle, there will be many MANY more cases like this where families torture themselves looking for the conspiracy, when the causes and circumstances are clear to all. I guess he didn't love life as much as they thought after all.