Police chief's plea in death probe
Detectives are still trying to piece together the 53-year-old man's movements before he ended up lying in the road where he was run over.
The inspector categorically dismissed rumours the occupants of the car which ran over Mr Ford had had any contact with him prior to the accident.
And he said anyone who actually knew Mr Ford had been involved in some sort of violent incident prior to the road accident should come forward and tell the police about it.
He said: "I understand rumours end up occupying the space where there is a lack of information but what we have here is an investigation to piece together the last movements of someone who was killed having been run over by a car, he said.
"The occupants of that car are entirely traumatised by the incident."
He said they had always been considered to be witnesses and had never been looked at as suspects of any kind.
Rumours over Mr Ford's death surfaced as the police investigation began following the accident on the South Embankment early on Tuesday morning.
Some centred on the Renault Clio car containing four men and a woman who ran over Mr Ford as he lay in the road, suggesting they had somehow confronted him earlier on in the evening. Others centred on the Royal Avenue Gardens public toilets where it has been claimed Mr Ford was involved in some sort of fracas before he ended up in the middle of the road.
As far as the occupants of the car are concerned Insp Morgan said: "They are not suspects and I can confirm there has been no involvement between them and the deceased earlier on in the evening or any suggestion that there was any contact or argument between them."
He said the police were repeating their appeal for witnesses who may have heard or seen anything on the embankment in Dartmouth at the time of the accident.
"The position rumours take does nothing but divert energy into supposing what happened rather that awaiting the outcome of the investigation which has experienced detectives sitting behind it," he added.
Mr Ford, who lived in Stoke Fleming and worked at Dartmouth's Sainsbury's store, was airlifted to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in Exeter where he was found to be dead on arrival.
His wife is too upset to say anything following his death, the police said.
Insp Morgan stressed the death of Mr Ford is the only serious incident currently under investigation in Dartmouth and pointed out that for the last three years crime, including violence, had fallen in what is already one of the safest places in the country.
"I have to address people's concerns and I would be stupid not to listen to them but we need to have a rational response to an horrendous incident which we still haven't explained," he said.
Police are still hoping to hear from possible witnesses following their appeal for two men with an English bull terrier to come forward, along with another man who is believed to have been using a video camera in the area at that time.
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