Police watchdog issues update to Brighouse crash where two Dewsbury men died following police chase

The IOPC has confirmed the Mohammed Sohail Aziz, aged 23, and Suhail Akhtar, aged 20, died after their car crashed into a road barrier on Bradford Road in the early hours of Friday July 17.

Both men were from Dewsbury.

Prior to the crash, their car had been pursued by a West Yorkshire Police car for a short time. Sadly, both men died at the scene.

IOPC Regional Director Miranda Biddle said: “Our thoughts remain with all of those affected by this tragic incident. The men’s families are aware of our investigation, and we will continue to support and update them on our progress.

“We have established, so far, that Mr Aziz was the driver of the vehicle. The police vehicle signalled for him to stop, using their emergency lights, and he failed to do so. A short pursuit of approximately one minute then took place before the car crashed. While both vehicles will be examined in due course, at this stage, we do not believe there was any contact between the cars.

“We have a number of witness statements, multiple CCTV recordings, and body worn video footage of the incident. This will be analysed alongside the police incident logs and statements from the officers involved to establish all of the circumstances surrounding this tragedy.”