'All factors taken into consideration' - Officer who started pursuit of car which crashed, killing Benjamin Hopton
The police officer who initiated a chase which ended with the death of an Oldbury teenager said he 'considered all factors' when deciding to pursue the car he was driving.
Benjamin Hopton, aged 17, was killed when the Honda he was driving failed to stop for police and hit a tree on Coombs Road near the junction with Amber Way, Halesowen.
The crash happened around 3.15am on January 5 last year, with Mr Hopton, of Princess Road in Oldbury, declared dead at the scene and two passengers taken to hospital.
The first day of the full inquest at Sandwell Coroner's Court in front of a jury heard evidence from Inspector Matthew Walker who started to pursue the vehicle when he saw it "bunny hop and then stall" at Britannia Road in Rowley Regis.
Inspector Walker, who has been a police officer for 28 years and is fully trained in tactical pursuit and advanced driving, was on a special operation looking at keyless and car key burglaries and had intelligence about a Mercedes that had been using the owner's tracking device.
Although based just over the border in Staffordshire, he went to a car park in Rowley Regis and found the Mercedes, then saw a Honda car with three people in it.
