Man dies at Woolwich Dockyard station after police chase (From News Shopper)

Man dies at Woolwich Dockyard station after police chase

9:22am Monday 10th September 2012 in News By Mark Chandler and Sarah Trotter

A MAN who was being chased by police has died after running into a railway tunnel at Woolwich Dockyard railway station.

Police say the incident happened at around 10.20pm on Sunday (September 9) evening when a marked Territorial Support Group carrier stopped a car due to its erratic driving.

A Met spokesman said the vehicle initially failed to stop but eventually did so in Belson Road, Woolwich.

Two men were detained at the scene but police say a third man ran off and was then seen on the railway tracks, heading for Woolwich Dockyard station.

Ambulance crews were also despatched to the scene and a body was later found in the tunnel. It is believed the man was electrocuted.

Cam Nwaobi, who lives on Belson Road, said after hearing the news: "The police have the right to chase him. They are doing their job.

"If he goes in there it's almost like suicide - anything could happen."

Pointing to the station's CCTV camera, Mr Nwaobi said: "But dead men can't speak. The camera, that is how the dead can speak."

The 52-year-old said there was a problem for crime in the area, and the train station was a common route for people who wanted to evade the law.

He said: "We don't want death, death, death all the time round here. They do drugs here but I've got fed up reporting it.

"It's not a coincidence they use the train station because they can escape."

A Met Police spokesman said: "The Met Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed as a matter of course, and an inquiry into the circumstances of the incident is underway."

Another death at Woolwich Dockyard

The incident has echoes of a similar death in March 2009, when Chi Nguyen died on the Woolwich Dockyard tracks after fleeing police officers.

An inquest heard earlier this year how the 26-year-old fell on to a live line and was struck by a London-bound train before the power could be cut off.

Mr Nguyen, from Maryon Road, Woolwich, had been stopped late at night while driving erratically, but fled the scene, scaling a fence before plunging 30ft onto the line.

On that occasion a report by the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards cleared police of wrongdoing and suggested the delay in getting the power shut down was due to a malfunctioning phone at the railway company.

But the inquest heard this was not true, and police had been dialling a wrong number instead of Network Rail.

The inquest into Mr Nguyen's death is set to resume later this year.