Cambridgeshire Police detective crashed while speeding over 100mph

A police detective has been dismissed after causing a crash while driving at over 100mph while on his phone.

Det Con Michael Chang drove the unmarked police car with its blue lights on in a non-emergency situation on 30 March 2020, tribunal documents show.

The officer, who was based at Huntingdon Police Station in Cambridgeshire, was using his phone and driving in excess of 100mph when he hit another car.

He failed to remain at the scene, did not notify his supervisor about the incident, and did not tell the truth when eventually speaking about the collision, the tribunal heard.

In another incident on 15 April 2020, he changed into his police uniform to skip a queue at his local Tesco supermarket while not wearing a mask at the height of the pandemic.

He then used his police vest, police baton and pepper spray on a member of the public, with an innocent bystander caught by the spray and suffering "short term harmful effects".

Det Con Chang was off-duty during the incident and was not authorised to carry the pepper spray.

At a four-day hearing in Peterborough, which concluded on Thursday, Det Con Chang was dismissed without notice.

He was found to have breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour in respect of Authority Respect and Courtesy, Orders and Instructions, Duties and Responsibilities and Discreditable Conduct.

In October 2021 at Northampton Crown Court, Det Con Chang was sentenced to 16 months in prison, suspended for two years after pleading guilty to dangerous driving and possession of a firearm - his police issued pepper spray.

He was also ordered to pay costs, a £5,300 fine, and disqualified from driving for 14 months.

Chief Constable Nick Dean said: “The public should be able to trust that police officers will act professionally at all times.

“Det Con Chang’s actions on two occasions were completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

"We expect the highest standard of professionalism from our officers, but Det Con Chang’s conduct has been found to have fallen short of our expectations and in addition, the public would rightly expect that dismissal would be the consequence.”

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