Met Police Officer Who SMASHED Patrol Car Into Parked Mercedes Then Claimed Someone ELSE Had Hit It Is Sacked For Gross Misconduct

A Metropolitan Police officer who crashed his patrol car into a parked Mercedes before falsely claiming that someone else had hit the police vehicle has been sacked.

PC Jack Sullivan was behind the wheel of a marked police Toyota when he reversed into the Mercedes in Carshalton, south London, at around 9.36pm on March 15, 2025.

But instead of reporting the collision and obtaining the owner’s details, Sullivan left the scene.

A misconduct panel found proven that the officer knew he had collided with the Mercedes and was aware the crash had damaged the police vehicle.

Later that night, Sullivan claimed the damage had apparently happened while the police car was parked.

In a CAD entry, he said officers had returned to the vehicle and noticed ‘slight damage’ to the rear bumper, adding that it appeared another car had ‘potentially hit it’.

He then recorded that there had been no damage at the beginning of the shift and that it had ‘definitely happened whilst dealing at another incident’.

But the panel found those entries were false — and that Sullivan knew they were false.

He also knowingly provided false accounts to fellow officers PC Charlie Preston and PS James Stead.

Suspicion was raised after PC Preston went back to the road and discovered a Mercedes with fresh damage to its front nearside bumper and wheel arch.

A piece of reflector similar to one fitted to a police vehicle was also found at the scene.

PS Stead later attended and found that the piece of red plastic matched the broken reflector on Sullivan’s police car.

Data from the police vehicle was subsequently analysed by a senior forensic collision investigator, whose investigation concluded that Sullivan’s police car had collided with the Mercedes while reversing.

The panel found Sullivan had deliberately failed to tell the truth, deliberately put inaccurate information on the CAD and continued misleading colleagues.

It found proven breaches of Honesty and Integrity, Duties and Responsibilities and Discreditable Conduct, assessing his behaviour as gross misconduct.

One allegation was not proven: that Sullivan had returned to the scene before reporting the collision. The panel found he had already made reports before he subsequently returned.

The panel also said Sullivan had ‘multiple opportunities to admit the truth’ but failed to take them.

Commander Colin Wingrove, who chaired the panel, concluded that a final written warning would not be sufficient.

The panel said it had ‘very little confidence’ that Sullivan’s conduct would not be repeated because of his lack of true remorse, reflection and insight.

It concluded dismissal without notice was the only appropriate outcome because of the nature and severity of the breaches.

PC Sullivan was dismissed without notice and is to be placed on the barred list.