A 15-year-old boy who was killed while riding an electric bike while being chased by a police patrol had been smoking cannabis and was carrying almost £700 worth of drugs, an inquest heard today.
Saul Cookson died after riding his Sur-Ron electric bike through bollards onto a main road where he collided with an ambulance in Salford, Greater Manchester, in June 2023.
An investigation in Bolton today found that Saul had cannabis in his pocket at the time of the accident and was using it daily.
His mother, Emma Frendo, tearfully told the hearing that Saul had been arrested “a couple of times” during a “turbulent time” in his life, but that he wanted to go to college and learn a trade.
The teenager had been followed by a police cruiser marked BMW
Coroner Mike Pemberton told the jury they would have to consider whether there was a police pursuit of Saul and whether “appropriate policies were being followed or any risk assessment had been carried out at the time”.
He told the eleven jurors: “You will have to consider whether any pursuit or tailgating contributed to the collision.”
Saul’s mother, Emma Frendo, and father, Michael Cookson, left the hearing as the jury was shown dashcam footage from the police cruiser and a montage of CCTV footage of Saul riding his electric bike at through the bollards and colliding with the ambulance.
Saul Cookson, 15, died when his e-bike collided with an ambulance in Salford. This photo was posted today by his family.
Saul Cookson died after riding his Sur-Ron electric bike through bollards onto a main road where he collided with an ambulance in Salford, Greater Manchester, in June 2023. Pictured, the parked ambulance hit by Saul
Footage from the ambulance showed the collision and Saul being knocked off his e-bike and falling onto the road.
The inquest was told he was taken to Salford Royal Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival at the Accident and Emergency department.
Pathologist Usha Chandran said Saul died from multiple traumatic injuries, including fractures of two neck vertebrae that caused compression of the spinal cord.
He said toxicology tests showed low levels of cannabis in Saul’s blood, which were below the UK legal limit for drug driving.
Dr Chandran said cannabis could affect Saul’s cognition and reduce his coordination, but it was “difficult” to say whether it contributed to the cause of the accident.
Coroner Mike Pemberton told him: “I need to reach a direct conclusion on the balance of probabilities as to whether there was a direct causal effect.” I have no evidence on which I can base a confident finding that it had a direct effect.
‘There is evidence that Saul had consumed some cannabis, but it would be speculative what the effect on Saul would have been without knowledge of his ability to process it. I smoked it regularly.
“A low level may not have had a detrimental effect on his judgment.”
The teenager died shortly after being rushed to hospital following the accident.
Saul Cookson, 15, died after hitting the front of the moving ambulance. Exclusive images obtained by MailOnline show Saul riding down Fitzwarren Street on the e-bike at 2.01pm
Four seconds later a patrol car is seen following him.
Toxicology expert Simon Elliott said it could not be said when cannabis was consumed that day, but the low level meant there was no causal effect on the teenager’s death.
Saúl’s mother, Emma Frendo, cried as she told the inquest: ‘Every day he smoked a lot, but I didn’t like him doing it. He wouldn’t do it in front of me.
Ms Frendo, who produced a montage of photographs of Saul to display at the hearing, was comforted by Saul’s father, Michael Cookson, as the coroner read her statement at the hearing.
He said the soccer-loving teenager was 6 feet tall and wore size 11 sneakers.
Mrs Frendo said he had been good at school and, after his death, had received his “fantastic” GCSE results.
He had been good at math and she considered him “my little genius.”
He said that as a teenager he had been arrested “a couple of times” during a “turbulent time” in his life, but he wanted to go to college and learn a trade.
At the time of the accident, she said he had gone to see a friend and was heading home on his electric bike.
Officers at the scene of the accident on Langworthy Road, Salford, on the afternoon of June 8.
Messages at the scene at the time read ‘rest in peace my brother’, ‘fly high’, ‘shining up there’ and ‘forever 15’.
Floral tributes were tied to lampposts and candles were lit in memory of the teenager
Questioned by the family’s lawyer, Christian Weaver, she said he knew the surrounding roads very well because he had lived there all his life.
Constable Stephen Pennington of the Serious Highway Collision Unit said he found several wrappers of cannabis in Saul’s coat, as well as a food bag that was about a third full of cannabis.
Detective Constable David Millward, a police drugs expert, said the total value of the skunk and cannabis herb found on Saul was £679.
The inquest was told Saul’s mother was heard screaming on the side of the road at the scene of the collision.
Student paramedic Olivia Green was riding in the back of the ambulance driven by paramedic Laura Jones and fellow paramedic Aaron Fitzpatrick in the front seat.
Ms Green told the hearing in a statement that it was a hot summer day and the ambulance was returning to its base for lunch.
She said: ‘We were traveling at less than 30mph and had no blue lights on. I felt like something hit us and I thought we had hit the sidewalk. Laura said we had hit someone and jumped.
‘A police officer started doing chest compressions and I was going back and forth to the ambulance to get the equipment. There were screams from one side and someone said it was the patient’s mother.
“I was really confused as to why a police officer was there since it had just happened. It came out of nowhere. It wasn’t a head-on crash, it looked like he hit the front bumper. We were on our way to lunch and the next thing “It was that someone was lying on the ground. It was a shock.”
Student Fatoumatah Badji was a passenger in a car on the road and said: ‘This guy just came out of a side street, crashed into the ambulance and fell backwards to the ground. He was going very fast at the time and was on a black electric bike.
“He was lying on the side of the road and the bike was lying on the side. Two seconds later I saw a police officer running down the side of the road where the e-bike had come from. He started doing CPR.
Postman Shaidur Rahman told the inquest he heard “the sound of an electric bicycle” while making his rounds.
‘There was an ambulance passing by on the road. It seemed to be going very slow. I saw the electric bike pass through the bollards being driven by a young man dressed all in black. I can tell it was traveling very fast through the bollards.
“I think he was intending to cross Langworthy Road and didn’t even think or contemplate that the ambulance would be there. He collided with the driver’s side of the ambulance.
“The male could be seen being thrown into the air and landing on the opposite side of the road.”
The hearing will hear from the two police officers in the police cruiser when the inquest resumes tomorrow morning.