An 18-year-old died at the scene and his teenage passenger is in a critical condition in a London hospital, as the police watchdog assesses a mandatory referral from Kent Police
An 18-year-old man has died and a 16-year-old boy has been critically injured after a moped collided with an obstruction in Sheerness, Kent, as police officers on foot patrol walked towards it. Kent Police said the rider left through an alleyway beside Sheppey Leisure Centre shortly before 7.50pm on Saturday. Paramedics gave first aid but the rider, from the Isle of Sheppey, was pronounced dead at the scene. The passenger, also from Sheppey, was taken to a London hospital. The force has made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
What Kent Police have said
Officers were patrolling on foot near Beach Street and Royal Road when they began walking towards the moped. According to Kent Police, the vehicle left via an alleyway next to the leisure centre and was then involved in a collision. The force’s statement, published at 3.30pm on Sunday, says the 16-year-old remains in a critical condition.
BBC News described the collision as happening in an alleyway close to the leisure centre. Kent Police have said only that the moped entered an adjacent alleyway before the crash. Neither the other party to the collision nor the exact point of impact has been publicly set out, and no reconstruction has been published. Two bunches of flowers were left beside the alleyway on Sunday, the BBC reported.
Appeal for witnesses
The force’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit is leading inquiries under reference RY/JM/088/26. It wants to hear from anyone who saw the moped or the moments before the collision, not just the crash itself. CCTV and dashcam footage can be uploaded through an online evidence portal linked from the police appeal. Witnesses can call 01622 798538 or email sciu.td@kent.police.uk.
The IOPC referral
Police forces must refer incidents involving a death or serious injury where police contact may have played a part. The IOPC then decides whether to investigate independently, direct an investigation by the force or send the matter back for a local inquiry. The watchdog received around 7,000 referrals in 2024–25, and most were not independently investigated. A referral therefore does not in itself suggest wrongdoing by the officers or mean the IOPC has opened its own inquiry. The IOPC has not said what it will do.
In a separate case in London in August 2018, the IOPC examined an incident in which officers approached two mopeds on foot and one later hit a pedestrian. It looked at officer statements, body-worn video and radio traffic and found no evidence of a police pursuit or misconduct. That case has no bearing on what happened in Kent, but it shows the kind of material investigators usually gather.
Kent Police has not released the 18-year-old’s name. No further update on the boy’s condition has been given.
