Two Met officers charged after pregnant woman killed in police crash

Two Metropolitan Police officers have been charged after a 38-year-old woman in full-term pregnancy and her unborn child died in a collision with an unmarked police car in south-east London, a case that is now testing the standards that govern emergency driving and police accountability.

PC Chris Johnson, 56, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, while former PC Danny Tomkins, 35, was charged with dangerous driving. The two officers were driving separate unmarked police cars when the crash happened on Eltham Road near Kidbrooke Park Road in Eltham at about 6.15pm on 17 October 2024. Both vehicles were responding to an unrelated incident and had emergency equipment activated. They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 28 May 2026.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct said its inquiry concluded in October 2025 and that it had reviewed dash-cam footage, local CCTV, police logs and witness statements before sending a file to the Crown Prosecution Service. The CPS said there was sufficient evidence and that prosecution was in the public interest. A third officer, who had been a passenger in one of the vehicles, was also investigated for possible misconduct. The woman’s family asked that she not be named publicly.

The crash brought an immediate emergency response from the London Fire Brigade, the London Ambulance Service and London’s Air Ambulance. Witnesses described a violent impact. One said the woman’s car flipped three times after being hit. Another said the husband ran to the scene shouting, “that’s my wife,” and that she was pregnant. Flowers were later left at the crash site, a sign of how quickly a policing incident became a community trauma on a busy road used by ordinary drivers, pedestrians and families.

Acting Detective Chief Superintendent James Derham, who leads policing in Greenwich, said the woman’s family and friends continued to grieve a “truly terrible and heartbreaking incident.” IOPC regional director Mel Palmer called it a “devastating incident on a busy road” and said the family had been met and would receive regular updates. The case now moves from watchdog review to criminal proceedings, and it is likely to sharpen pressure on the Metropolitan Police and other forces over when emergency driving is justified, how officers are trained, and what safeguards exist when speed turns a response into a fatal crash.