Following confrontations with rioters, up to 12 South Wales Police officers were injured; a member of the public was attacked, multiple vehicles were set on fire and damage to property was reported.
An investigation into the road traffic accident would later lead to the IOPC serving gross misconduct notices to two officers involved in the incident.
Ely is a large residential area with approximately 14,600 residents on the outskirts of Cardiff, about 3 miles (5 km) from the city centre.
[2] The 1991 riots compounded the area's poor reputation for crime and youth delinquency, but community initiatives have sought to address these issues and many locals feel that Ely has been unfairly stigmatised.
[4] At 5.59 pm on 22 May, two teenage boys were seen travelling on an electric bike, towards a police van, on Frank Road on the estate.
[6] Later, BBC News verified time-stamped CCTV footage appearing to show a police van following two people riding an electric bicycle on Frank Road, 1⁄2 mile (900 m) away from the crash scene, at 5:59 pm.
The source said, "The reason why the police wasn't on the scene is because the boys have gone through a blocked street and the police knew they couldn't go that way so they have turned onto Grand Avenue, which led the boys to cut through onto Stanway Road onto Snowden Road.
They weren't on the scene because they lost them.”[12][failed verification][13] Interviewed by the BBC, First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford suggested that Alun Michael had been "entitled" to rely on information supplied to him by South Wales Police in the aftermath of the crash.
He said that calls for Michael to resign were to "trivialise the reaction to these tragic events" adding, "I'm very determined not to turn anything that happened in Ely into a political football involving individuals.
[1] On the evening of 26 May a vigil in memory of the boys, attended by at least 800 people, was held in Snowden Road, the scene of the crash.
[18] On 13 June the IOPC issued a statement, saying, "As part of our investigation, we have served gross misconduct notices on two police officers, the driver and passenger in a marked police van, which was seen on CCTV footage driving behind the boys' electric bike a short time prior to the fatal collision on 22 May.
It followed a procession of two limousines, four hearses and eight white Rolls-Royce cars, along with around a dozen motorbikes arranged by the boys' friends.