Use of police car to ram cow was 'lawful and necessary', inquiry finds

A police driver who rammed a cow in a force vehicle will return to frontline duties after an investigation found the tactic was “both lawful and necessary”, Surrey Police said.

The incident happened on Friday, June 14 at around 8.55pm after the force received reports that a cow was running loose in Staines-upon-Thames.

Then-home secretary James Cleverly had asked for a “full, urgent explanation” as to why officers used the car to ram the escaped animal, saying it seemed “unnecessarily heavy handed”.

The animal, a ten-month-old calf named Beau Lucy, was said to be “limping” but doing “a lot better” and taking medicine to treat her injuries, according to her farmer owner shortly after the incident.

Online footage of the incident showed Beau Lucy in a residential street being hit twice by a police car, as a nearby member of the public shouts “what are you doing that for?”

Beau Lucy got to her feet after the first strike and being thrown metres down the road, before being hit again by the car a second time.

She then remains on the ground, with her neck and top half of her body appearing to be stuck under the car. Officers then get out to assess the situation.

The force said it had been alerted by calls reporting that a car had been damaged and the animal was running at members of the public.

At the time, deputy chief constable Nev Kemp said the police had acted out of a duty to protect the public and that animal welfare was important.

Beau Lucy’s owner, a farmer who would only give his name as Rob, described the incident as “quite horrific” and “wrong” and said “it could have been handled so much better.”

Rob, who would not be drawn on whether the officers involved should face any disciplinary action, suggested that a vet should have been involved in Beau Lucy’s rescue, which may have avoided causing her distress.

Beau Lucy was returned to Rob’s farm, located between the border between Surrey and Middlesex, on the Saturday morning with bruises.

At the time, he said: “She’s a lot better. Time will tell because we don’t know what internal injuries she might have.”

Beau Lucy is “sulking a bit” and “limping” and she is also on antibiotics and painkillers.