During incidents where people are seriously injured or may have serious injuries, it is normal practice for paramedics to cut clothing from patients in order to examine them without causing further injuries. The clothing is usually discarded by the paramedics and because it is property belonging to someone then it will be recovered by the police for safe keeping, usually to be either returned or dispossed off with the owners permission.
The report on the BBC website leads me to believe that the Police officers that attended the scene were able to communicate with the pilot and get a good idea of the cause of the incident which would then have been passed onto AAIB who made the decision to await a paper report from the pilot.
The 1st role of a Police officer is the protection of Life, all officers receive first aid training, and that would have been their primary concern.
There are two sides to every story and it is easy for someone who doesn't understand what they are seeing (or what they have been told) to interpret it differently to those that understand what is occuring.
I see alot of postings on this forum criticizing the Press for using rhumors on this site and jumping to conclusions etc, however that appears to be exactly what forum members are doing on this thread.
Hoepfully this will help some of those slating the Police understand their role better, there does seem to be a heavy dose of CSI imagination in some of the postings.
As far as the cause of the crash, you'll be able to read all about it in the AAIB report.
keep safe.
Last edited by Mr D's; 3rd Apr 2009 at 13:22.