A Met Police officer from Hornchurch was eating his lunch when he crashed into a parked car and drove away.
PC Adejuwon Adebiyi was driving a police van in Upton Park with a box of food placed on the empty passenger seat.
The 57-year-old was eating the food when he swerved into a parked BMW in Claude Road.
PC Adebiyi then drove off and told both a traffic sergeant and his line manager there was no crash.
But he was caught out when CCTV footage of the crash was widely shared on social media.
Police van does a hit and run in East London pic.twitter.com/kTyaRkvKYd
— UB1UB2 West London (Southall) (@UB1UB2) March 20, 2024
PC Adebiyi, from Hornchurch, was charged with driving without due care and attention, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and failing to report it.
The incident took place in March and he later pleaded guilty to the charges at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on September 2.
PC Adebiyi has now been sacked and barred from policing for his failure to own up to his mistake at the time.
At his misconduct hearing his representative said that four minutes and ten seconds had changed his life.
But Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said his misconduct went beyond four minutes and ten seconds as PC Adebiyi had continued to deny the incident and “effectively attempted to cover it up”.
AC Taylor concluded: “I do of course understand his remorse and am grateful for his acknowledgement of the impact of this matter.
“However, the gravity of PC Adebiyi’s behaviour means that I do not consider that any sanction less than dismissal without notice is justified.”
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