Inquest into the death of Housam ISMAIL
Deceased
Housam Ismail
Demographics
21y, male
Date of death
2012-02-22
Finding date
2015-11-18
Cause of death
head and neck injuries including skull fracture and probable fractures to the upper cervical spine
AI-generated summary
A 21-year-old man died from head and neck injuries sustained as a passenger in a vehicle driven by an impaired driver during a police pursuit. The driver had consumed cannabis and diazepam before operating the vehicle at excessive speed through a 50 kph zone. When police attempted to stop the vehicle for a minor traffic violation, the driver accelerated and evaded, leading to a high-speed pursuit lasting approximately one minute. The vehicle failed to stop at a red light intersection and collided with another vehicle. The coroner found no fault with the police officer's conduct of the pursuit, which was conducted at safe distances with appropriate risk assessment and a predetermined termination point. The death resulted from the combination of impaired driving, excessive speed, and failure to comply with traffic signals, not from inappropriate police action.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Specialties
Contributing factors
- driver impairment from cannabis and diazepam
- excessive speed in 50 kph zone
- failure to stop at stop sign
- failure to comply with police direction to stop
- passenger not wearing seatbelt
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