Police recruit death claim fails over gaps in screening evidence

Errol Kerr’s claim over his son Jerome’s death has been dismissed. Jerome collapsed during an 800-metre assessment at the police training academy on 11 May 2021 and later died in hospital. The court accepted that the run precipitated the medical emergency.

Justice Sonya Wint-Blair held that the JCF owed him reasonable care, but the claimant had not proved that care required medical screening before the run or that screening would probably have identified his condition and prevented his participation. There was no proved warning or disclosure putting the police on notice of an unusual risk. The court also criticised the failure to produce the written recruitment protocol. Following an internal protocol would not itself answer whether the system met reasonable care.

The fatal-accident and estate claims failed. Judgment went to the Attorney General, with costs; the JCF was removed as a party. The decision does not give police a general immunity from negligence.

Final first-instance judgment delivered 21 September 2026. Later appeal or variation status has not been verified. This is newly reviewed coverage of an earlier decision, not a claim that the judgment was delivered today.