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A police decision to hit an escaped cow with a patrol car is being investigated as a criminal and internal misconduct matter.
Surrey Police was heavily criticised after footage was posted online of a 10-month-old calf being struck by a police car after midnight on June 15 following reports of a loose animal in Staines-upon-Thames.
On Thursday, the force said as part of its investigation it had made 290 house-to-house visits, handed out 210 leaflets along the route the calf took, contacted 75 witnesses and received more than 250 video clips.
The investigation is being led by the professional standards department and overseen by a senior investigating officer.
Deputy chief constable Nev Kemp said: “This significant update demonstrates why a thorough investigation is important, as it ensures all potential criminal and misconduct matters are clearly understood.
“This does, of course, take time.”
The calf’s owners, named only as Rob and Kate, said last month that allowing Surrey Police to investigate themselves made it easier for the force to justify the action taken.
They added: “We still hold the thought that the handling of this situation was cruel and barbaric.”
Surrey Police said officers tried a number of ways to capture the calf, named Beau Lucy, after reports that it was running at members of the public and had damaged a car, before the decision was taken to stop it by force using a patrol car.
The cow was returned to Rob’s farm, located near the border between Surrey and Middlesex, with bruises, and has since been recovering.
At the time of the incident, PETA’s vice president of programmes, Elisa Allen, said there was no justification for the police response.
She said: “The young calf must have been completely terrified and confused as they were cruelly and forcefully mown down – by a police car no less – and pinned to the ground.
“An investigation into the actions of the officers involved must urgently be undertaken and the calf safely rehomed at a sanctuary.”
However, a National Farmers’ Union official said police were “probably right” to strike the calf.
He told BBC Radio Surrey: “God forbid it had gone the other way and the animal ran off and bumped into someone, sent a child flying, sent any person flying, [which is] perfectly possible, and they were seriously injured or worse.”