A MAN plunged to his death after a friend pushed him 12 feet to the ground in a prank gone wrong, an inquest heard.
Conner Groom, 22, fell 3.7 meters into a bay at Topgolf in Chigwell, Essex, during a work Christmas party on December 21, 2021.
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Conner, from Clacton-on-Sea, fell head first into the edge of the safety nets on the first floor of the training ground and died five weeks later from a spinal injury.
Essex Crown Court heard how Conner and his friends had been drinking throughout the night before arriving at the scene.
After starting the session, the friends played pranks on each other, pushing or nudging each other to fall through the safety nets.
Before Conner was pushed by an unidentified friend, there were seven other incidents of pushing or attempted pushing by the group.
One of Conner’s friends ran over and pushed him, but instead of falling into the net, he went over the edge and fell to the ground about 12 feet below.
He suffered a serious spinal injury and was later taken to the Royal London Hospital.
Unfortunately, his condition worsened and he died from his injuries on January 25, 2022.
‘NOTHING MALICIOUS’
Detective Inspector Lydia George, of Essex Police, told the inquest how officers took statements from a number of people at the scene and reviewed CCTV footage of the incident.
DI George said: “All CCTV shows them in a good mood and without signs of animosity.
“Several times it shows the friends trying to push each other into the safety net. It was clearly seen as a joke.”
DI George said this happened several times and a member of security came to speak to the group about their behavior.
The man who ended up pushing Conner was not involved in the previous incidents, the detective said.
DI George continued: “Immediately before the fatal attack, [Conner’s friend] said he would push Conner into the net.
“It was said jokingly. He ran up to him and pushed him. It was a two-handed push.”
WHAT IS TOPGOLF?
TOPGOLF is a golf course game with electronically tracked golf balls and automatically scored drives.
Opened in 2000, it has units in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Mexico, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.
Its UK locations include Chigwell, Watford, Surrey and Glasgow.
There are several variations of Topgolf games such as Topgolf, TopChip, TopShot, TopPressure and Angry Birds.
DI George said a proposed cause of death after Conner’s long hospital stay was hypoxic brain injury caused by traumatic spinal cord injury.
DI George said that following the death, Essex Police consulted the Crown Prosecution Service and Conner’s family about the possibility of taking further action against their friend for the pressure.
The court heard that police ultimately chose not to pursue any manslaughter charges as the “evidence test was not met” and that the pure intention of the push was for Conner to fall through the safety net.
DI George added: “Conner Groom’s parents did not support a [his friend].
“They believed Conner would not want to support any action against him as they are good friends.”
Graham Jarvis, senior environmental health officer at Epping Forest Council, led a review of Topgolf and its safety procedures following Conner’s death.
He told the court the venue had made a number of changes to its policies following the tragic incident, including updates to its signage and a more “zero tolerance” approach to those who push people into safety nets.
Jarvis added that Epping Forest Council was satisfied with all the changes made to Topgolf and that no enforcement action was taken against the site.
Coroner Lincoln Brookes said he was completely satisfied there was no intention to cause harm by anyone in Conner’s group and that it was his friend’s full intention for him to fall through the safety net.
Brookes said the case was a “terrible tragedy” and recorded a conclusion of misadventure.
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