Girl who died fleeing police car on M5 ‘had removed handcuffs’

A teenage girl who died after escaping a police vehicle and being hit by another car on the M5 had been able to remove her handcuffs, it has been revealed.

Tamzin Hall, 17, died as she was being taken to a custody suite in Bridgwater by two officers in an Avon and Somerset Police car in November 2024.

A report from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), published earlier, has detailed how she removed her handcuffs and climbed from the rear passenger side seat to the front passenger seat of the police car, which was parked on the side of the motorway.

She then left the car, climbed across the crash barrier and was hit by a car on the opposite carriageway.

Ms Hall had been arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage and was being taken to a custody suite in Bridgwater from Taunton via the M5.

The police car was on the northbound carriageway of the motorway, between junctions 25 and 24 just before 23:00 GMT on 11 November.

The IOPC report, which does not name Ms Hall, says: “A female child was arrested for assault and criminal damage.

“She was placed in the rear passenger side of a marked police car and handcuffed with her hands positioned in front. An officer was seated next to her during transport.

“While on her way to custody, the child managed to remove her handcuffs, climb into the front passenger seat, access the front passenger door and get out.”

She was pronounced dead at the scene after being hit as she crossed the southbound carriageway, the report added.

Later that month an inquest hearing at Wells Town Hall was told that Ms Hall, who was a student, sustained fatal head, neck and chest injuries.

The IOPC is investigating her death, including the contact that the two officers had with Ms Hall before she died.

The investigation is examining the officers’ “actions, decision-making and risk assessments of the situation and whether these followed relevant training and policies”.