Teenager lay dying after crash despite 999 distress call from iPhone

A 19-year-old lay dying after a car accident despite his iPhone automatically registering the crash and calling police.

George Dillon had smashed his VW Golf into a tree on a crest in the road in Romsey, near Southampton, on May 20 last year.

His phone’s security feature alerted 999 that he had been in a ‘serious car crash and was not responding’, providing GPS coordinates.

But police did not immediately respond to the scene because operators logged there was ‘no direct request made’ and nothing ‘distinctive’ could be heard in the background of the call with no sounds of distress or disturbance.

After they called back, the phone went straight to voicemail and the department’s intelligence team ‘drew a blank’ attempting to identify the caller.

Officers responded after a bystander saw the crash scene and made a further phone call 20 minutes later.

Mr Dillon suffered ‘catastrophic and unsurvivable’ injuries and died from them at Southampton General Hospital two days later on May 18 last year.

Now a coroner has called for better training for police to deal with the ‘Crash Detection’ call function on iPhones.

Henry Charles, assistant coroner for Hampshire, said that better ‘understanding, training and procedures’ are needed when dealing with automated calls when there is a ‘an indication of a collision where a risk to life may exist’.

Apple introduced the feature, where iPhone users can set their phone to automatically make an emergency call when it detects that you’ve been in a severe car crash, in 2022.

Writing to Hampshire Constabulary and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Mr Charles said ‘false alarms’ from electronic devices were ‘commonplace’ and locations given often ‘inaccurate’.

But in a Prevention of Future Deaths report, he said there is ‘a risk that future deaths could occur’ and that ‘action should be taken’ to improve procedures when such calls are made.

At Mr Dillon’s inquest in Winchester, it was heard that Hampshire Constabulary received an automated call at 10.26pm.

The control room supervisor forwarded the message to the intelligence team to establish who the iPhone belonged to and whether there was any serious harm or risk to life at that time.

However, less than 20 minutes later, at 10.43pm, the intelligence team had ‘drawn a blank’.

Mr Charles continued: ‘But for a separate telephone call from a member of the public at 10.45pm, further steps may have been made to make contact…or a police vehicle may have been assigned to attend the GPS co-ordinates provided by the iPhone or no further action taken.’

He said that the crash detection automatic calls were a recent innovation at the time of the crash.

‘The evidence indicated that false alarms from electronic devices such as telephones and watches are commonplace, and that locations received from such devices was often inaccurate and liable to involve substantial police time in tracking the device down,’ he said.

‘I am concerned that the understanding, training and procedures need review to assist with appropriately prompt response in situations where there is an indication of a collision where a risk to life may exist’

He added: ‘In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you and your organisation have the power to take such action.’

Mr Charles added the force is under a duty to respond within eight weeks.

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