A Kent police officer has died and another remains critically ill in hospital after their response vehicle was involved in a collision during an emergency call out.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the force announced the death ‘with deep sadness’, of PC Bradley Corke, 27, who was based in Tonbridge and had served with the force since May 2022.<\/p>\n
The incident, involving a marked Ford Focus police car and a VW Scirocco, happened on the westbound A20 London Road at the junction with Button Street, Farningham at approximately 7.45pm on Thursday 19 March.<\/p>\n
A member of the public who was in a second vehicle continues to be treated for serious injuries.<\/p>\n
Today Kent Police held a two-minute silence across the force for PC Bradley Corke.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson from Kent Police said: “Bradley selflessly gave up his life while trying to save the lives of others who were in danger. His bravery, dedication, and passion for helping others will not be forgotten.”<\/p>\n
They added: “He spent his police service in the towns of West Kent. The force is supporting his family and colleagues, who are devastated.”<\/p>\n
Bradley’s brother described him as a hero. <\/p>\n
The crash happened on the A20 at its junction with Button Street Credit: ITV News Meridian<\/p>\n
In a statement, he said: “RIP to my hero, my brother who died in a tragic car incident the other day! <\/p>\n
“He was a beloved Brighton fan, we had season tickets for 14 years we went to mostly every away game possible too . If you could show him some love and praise. <\/p>\n
“I love you Brad.”<\/p>\n
Neil Mennie, Chair of Kent Police Federation, said: “We are all absolutely heartbroken to learn of this news.”Bradley was a popular colleague who will be much missed and we will be doing all we can to support his family and close colleagues at this time.”Policing is a family and words cannot describe the pain we are all feeling and how this news will affect us in the days, weeks and months ahead.”This sad incident serves as a horrific example of the risks police officers face and how police officers can sadly make the ultimate sacrifice as they strive to keep the public safe.”<\/p>\n
Flowers have been left near to where the incident happened Credit: ITV News Meridian<\/p>\n
Helena Dollimore, Member of Parliament for Hastings and Rye said: “It is incredibly sad news that Kent Police Officer and Hastings resident Bradley Corke has passed away following a collision while responding to an emergency call.<\/p>\n
“My thoughts and deepest condolences are with his family, friends, and colleagues at this exceptionally difficult time. <\/p>\n
“PC Corke was just 27 years old, and this loss is truly heartbreaking.<\/p>\n
“This is a devastating reminder of the risks our officers take every single day to keep us safe.”<\/p>\n
Reporting History sees journalists join News At Ten anchor Tom Bradby to revisit their remarkable on-the-day reports of the defining events of the modern age. Listen to the episodes below…<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Kent police officer has died and another remains critically ill in hospital after their response vehicle was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-491381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}