A POLICE chief put under investigation for helping a distressed man running half naked on a dual carriageway did not breach behaviour standards, an investigation has found.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) was called to probe how Sussex Police Chief Constable Giles York responded to an incident last year.

Mr York spotted 37-year-old Ryan Prince in distress on the A264 near Pease Pottage at lunchtime on July 25.

He was the only driver to stop to try help Mr Prince, who had taken cocaine and later died in hospital from multi-organ failure.

Because of the death and the contact between Mr Prince and Mr York, the IOPC were called in.

Previously The Argus reported how Mr York found the situation “frightening”. Mr Prince was running into traffic while barefoot and bare chested on the hottest day of the year.

His body overheated, leaving him delirious. At one stage he got into Mr York’s car, and he also scrambled on top of a lorry and under it, before Mr York got him to safety.

The police chief feared Mr Prince, of Bewbush, Crawley, was going to get run over, and possibly cause a serious crash.

At an inquest held this month Mr York said: “Nobody else had got out of their vehicles or stopped.

“He was still struggling, trying to escape. We were in the central reservation with traffic coming past us. It was frightening. I just wanted to keep him safe, and told him that.

“When police arrived, I hoped that they would help him, because nobody else was.

“Rarely have I been so pleased to see my colleagues. By that stage I was tired, looking back now everything seems logical, but at the time it’s really confusing.”

IOPC investigators found his conduct, and that of other officers, did not breach professional behaviour standards.

Medical experts said the moment Mr Prince took the cocaine he had set the chain of events in motion that led to his death in hospital.

The IOPC did say that Sussex Police should review how it contacts people’s next of kin, as Mr Prince’s family only learned he was in hospital a day after he had died.

IOPC regional director Sarah Green said: “My thoughts remain with Mr Prince’s family, friends and all those affected by his death.

“Our investigation concluded there was no indication officers may have breached standards of professional behaviour.”

Coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley said Mr York’s actions were “exemplary”. Mr Prince died from a drug related death the conclusion was misadventure.