When Cameron Crawford saw the news that police had misidentified two teenagers after a fatal road accident, the memories came flooding back.
The independent police watchdog is investigating how South Yorkshire Police mixed up the identities of 17-year-old Trevor Wynn and 18-year-old Joshua Johnson after a crash in Rotherham in December.
For three weeks Trevor’s family believed he had died, while Joshua’s sat by the bedside of the injured victim in hospital. When he regained consciousness, the truth became clear.
“It’s hard to imagine what these families have been through in the past few weeks,” said Emily Barry, the director of the Independent Office for Police Conduct. “It is clear something has gone very wrong with awful consequences for them.”
But it turns out the case is far from unusual.
George Crawford had picked up the wallet his friend had left behind in a takeaway on a night out in October 2018.
When 20-year-old George was hit by a car in the early hours, police identified him through that friend’s ID and the wrong family was summoned to the hospital.
By the time the mistake was uncovered, it meant George’s family were not with him when he died.
“We could have been at the bedside of our son to say goodbye and we had that removed because somebody did not do their job correctly,” said George’s father Cameron.
Choking back tears, he added: “To see it happening again, my heart bled for both of sets of families.”
More details have emerged about how the Rotherham case unfolded.
At the scene, police found a phone in a case which also contained Joshua’s driving licence. A second phone nearby showed some medical ID information and was in the name of Trevor.
An officer spoke to Trevor’s mother, who provided his college ID and a description of his build and footwear. The officer compared that to the body in the mortuary and “was satisfied that this was” Trevor.
A second officer in the ambulance with the surviving teenager had been told by other officers it was Joshua. Looking at the photo on his driving licence, with medical staff, they agreed it was him.
But when that injured teenager regained consciousness, Joshua’s father alerted the police to the misidentification.
Misidentification ‘incredibly easy’
Lucy Easthope is one of the country’s leading disaster recovery experts and has long campaigned for more attention to be given to avoiding misidentification.
She said the Rotherham incident should be a “stop and think” moment for authorities.
A professor at the University of Bath’s Centre for Death and Society, she said she has been present at incidents when a mistake has been spotted.
“The world just falls out from beneath your feet,” she said.
“I think we think that the worst thing that could’ve happened is the thing that happens, but actually we can continue to do even more harms as responders, and not returning the right person to the right family is one of those additional harms.”
Read more from Sky News:
Police chief referred to watchdog over Israeli fan ban
‘A 14-year-old is with a man in a hotel’ – here’s what police did next
Prof Easthope said she hears from police officers who feel pressured to make an identification through documents found at the scene that should not be accepted.
“The living person has woken up and that should not be the safeguard,” she said.
“It’s actually incredibly easy for misidentification to occur. We have to fight every day to make sure we don’t incorrectly identify people.
“For me, this is a real clarion call about improving resource and awareness.”
George Crawford’s family have turned the pain of his loss into a charity in his name “to give young people a leg up to realise their dreams”.
Even eight years on, that pain is evident. “It’s not just the families. It’s the friends of these kids. This changes them,” said Cameron.
“The Rotherham case brings it all back like it was yesterday.”
