Overview
- Assistant coroner Peter Harrowing opened and adjourned the case at Avon Coroner's Court, with a pathologist giving a provisional cause of death as multiple injuries pending laboratory results.
- A review hearing is set for March 30, with the family, South Western Ambulance Service, Avon and Somerset Police, and the driver who struck Mr Smith (and their insurer) listed as interested persons.
- The IOPC says body‑worn video shows the officer tried to engage with Mr Smith before discharging a Taser, which caused him to fall to the ground.
- The watchdog is investigating the actions and decisions of police in the moments before the death and has taken initial accounts from the officer and ambulance staff; no completion date has been given.
- Mr Smith left an ambulance that had stopped on the M5 near Weston‑super‑Mare at about 11pm on November 30, entered live lanes, was struck by a car on the southbound carriageway, and died at the scene.