One man has died and another was critically injured following a car chase with police in Croydon. The pursuit, which ended in a grim accident in the evening of April 18, saw a police car follow a vehicle suspected of using cloned number plates.
The vehicle made off when police tried to stop it and crashed into two other vehicles eight minutes later. Six people in the other vehicles were injured, with one of them critical. Three were also trapped in their cars following the crash at the junction of Wickham Road and Shirley Roundabout.
The driver of the pursued vehicle, a 63-year-old male, was pronounced dead at the scene as officers gave initial medical treatment before further assistance from paramedics, air ambulance and the fire brigade arrived on the scene. Two men who were also in the car, both aged 61, were arrested on suspicion of being carried in a stolen vehicle. One was also arrested for being in possession of class A drugs, My London reported.
The Met Police’s Directorate of Professional Standards was informed and a referral was made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) which will carry out an independent investigation. This is required when vehicles are involved in a collision involving death or serious injury following a police pursuit.
A spokesperson for the Met said: “At 20.28hrs on Friday, 18 April, officers on patrol in Croydon began to follow a vehicle that was suspected to be displaying cloned number plates. At 20:38hrs, in the vicinity of South Norwood High Street, officers tried to stop the vehicle. It failed to stop and made off with officers in pursuit.
“At 20.46hrs, the vehicle that was being pursued collided with two vehicles being driven by other members of the public in Wickham Road, Croydon close to the junction with Shirley Road. Officers gave initial medical treatment, including CPR, while awaiting the arrival of the other emergency services.
“The London Ambulance Service and the London Fire Brigade attended and treated multiple people for injuries. Despite their best efforts, a 63-year-old man – the driver of the vehicle that was being pursued – was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin has been informed…”
The spokesperson added: “Six members of the public, who were in the two other vehicles, were taken to hospital. One was found to have a potentially life threatening injury. Road closures were put in place while the incident was investigated, with buses on diversion. These closures have now been lifted.”
The London Ambulance Service said: “We were called at 8.47pm on 18 April to reports of a road traffic collision near the junction of Wickham Road and Shirley Road in Croydon. We sent multiple resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, incident response officers, members of our hazardous area response team (HART) and an advanced paramedic. We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance.
“We treated seven patients at the scene. Sadly, one person was declared dead at the scene. We took one patient to a major trauma centre and took five patients to hospitals.”
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
