Police not to blame after lorry driver died following arrest

An HGV driver died in hospital after being arrested on suspicion of drink driving, just hours after his lorry left the A1 and ploughed through a hedgerow. Lincolnshire Police was found to have "acted appropriately" by an independent investigation following the incident.

Jaroslaw Kawala, 51, left the carriageway at Colsterworth and his vehicle came to rest in a field at around 3.45pm on 21 December 2022. Police officers attended the scene and arrested him on suspicion of driving with excess alcohol. He was then taken to Grantham police station but half an hour later he collapsed in the custody booking area.

He was pronounced dead at the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham at 8.40pm. An inquest found that Kawala died as a result of the road traffic accident. Officers at the incident scene observed only minimal damage to the HGV exterior, the air bags had not deployed, and Kawala had no visible injuries.

Officers stated that they asked the driver if he had any injuries and he replied not. Kawala was also able to exit the vehicle and walk to the police van unassisted. A post-mortem found Kawala's medical cause of death to be due to an abdominal haemorrhage sustained in a road traffic collision, and alcohol intoxication.

Kawala sustained the injury as a result of his stomach impacting the steering wheel during the collision, prior to the arrival of police officers.

Derrick Campbell, independent office for police conduct director, said: "I would again express my condolences to Mr Kawala's family at this difficult time."