Surrey Police: PCC calls for calm during cow collision investigation

Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner said media speculation about officers’ decision to ram an escaped cow “does not necessarily reflect the situation” they found themselves in.

A police vehicle was filmed hitting the animal twice on a street in southwest London.

The action was criticized by the Interior Minister and animal rights groups.

Surrey Police said the decision to stop the animal by car was made out of concerns for public safety.

Surrey PCC Lisa Townsend said: “There is a lot of speculation on social media which does not necessarily reflect the situation, which continued for several hours, or the difficult decisions officers on the ground had to make at the time.

“I agree that the police acted correctly in this case by deciding to report themselves and I know that they are also thoroughly evaluating the incident internally.

“I would ask everyone to give this matter sufficient time to thoroughly investigate rather than speculating and causing unnecessary additional stress and concern in the community.”

Police said the cow was taken to a nearby farm and suffered a large cut on its leg.

A police statement said: “Officers were extremely concerned for the safety of the public and attempted to safely capture the cow using various means over a number of hours.”

“Unfortunately, these measures were unsuccessful and it was decided to end the incident with a police car.”

The police said they had now contacted the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

On Saturday, Home Secretary James Cleverley said on X (formerly Twitter) that he could not “think of any reasonable need for this measure” and demanded an urgent explanation for the “harsh” approach.

The RSPCA said the police’s actions “appear to be disproportionate to the situation”.

Speaking to Sky News, the partner of the farmer who owns the cow described how shocked she was when she saw the video.

She said: “It looked like they were trying to kill it.

“I don’t know if it was his decision to drive towards the animal or if he was instructed to do so, but the police officers themselves looked pretty agitated when they got out of the car.”