From The Metro:
A man being chased by police vaulted a level crossing barrier and died when he was struck by a train.
The man was one of three people in a Mercedes CLK 230 car that police suspected to be uninsured.The tragedy took place at about 5.30pm yesterday on Ordnance Road, Enfield after police pursued the car for a few hundred yards. The car was forced to stop when ut reached the Enfield Lock level crossing and two men were immediately arrested after leaving the car.
But the third man was killed after climbing the barrier on to the train track. He was hit by a northbound train (1) and was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident has been referred to the force's professional standards department to look into, and the Independent Police Complaints Commission has also been informed (2).
1) Textbook stuff: "The train was proceeding in a northerly direction..."
2) I'm all in favour of holding the police to account, Ian Tomlinson etc, but in this case, why? Is it their fault that the man responded in a totally irrational manner?
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10 comments:
They will look in to it and conclude (rightly) there was nothing the police could do. They will emphasize that the police did nothing, in case anybody is even thinking it, which in some mysterious way 'made' him go over the barrier.
It will help if the record shows the police shouting something like "Stop in the name of the Law".
A surprising number of offenders seem to think that running along railway lines is clever escape route, which is very upsetting for the drivers who hit them.
"'m all in favour of holding the police to account, Ian Tomlinson etc, but in this case, why? Is it their fault that the man responded in a totally irrational manner?"
I think - like any death just after leaving custody - it's just automatic, for the reasons WoaR outlines.
Of course, sometimes, it can take a bit of bad publicity before they get involved...
I'd suspect they are dead scared of the
'If you hadn't been chasing him we wouldn't have died, it's all your fault!'
compensation claim that is even now winging it's way toward them.
Sounds like an ideal event for the 2012 Olympics though?
WOAR, I think the 'stop in the name of the law' can be implied from the circumstances - the coppers are hardly likely to have given him a ten second head start in the interests of fair play.
JM, good link, that's the sort of thing I meant.
Ch, can't the man's next of kin just claim on the insurance... oh, wait...
"The tragedy took place...": tragedy indeed. "one of three people .."
Enfield Independent update.
20 year old Romanian father of three from Ireland; on a week's holiday apparently, or...
The car wasn't insured or taxed or something.
D, I hope you're not suggesting it'd have been better all round had they driven the car into the path of the train? That might well have killed the entirely innocent train driver, passengers etc.
On the bright side, there'd have been one less show-offy car on the road.
Sh N, excellent update. And what are his cousins doing here? Are they sure that this 'devoted father' had nothing to hide from the authorities? Questions, questions.
I hope the car wasn't damaged.
Twenty years old, yet a father of three (all under five)?
Ahhh, glorious diversity!
AC1, why not?
JM, actually he's done his widow a favour - now she will jump to top of council house waiting list and get bombarded with Tax Credits and suchlike for the 'vulnerable' children.
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