The Independent Office for Police Conduct has been called in to investigate the circumstances surrounding a high-speed police chase from South Norwood to Shirley on Friday night that left one man dead and six others needing hospital treatment.
Police pursuit: the car chase began when a vehicle failed to stop for a search
The driver of the car being chased by police died after a crash with two other cars on Wickham Road, close to the often busy roundabout off Shirley Road.
According to the Metropolitan Police, the man who died, who was 63 years old, was suspected of using cloned number plates on his car.
His two passengers, both men aged 61, were arrested on suspicion of being carried in a stolen vehicle. One was also arrested for possession of Class A drugs.
The car chase had begun at around 8.28pm, when police officers on patrol “began to follow a vehicle that was suspected to be displaying cloned number plates”. They made an attempt to stop the vehicle near South Norwood High Street. When the car failed to stop, the police gave chase.
Around six minutes later, the car crashed into two other vehicles in Wickham Road.
London Ambulance Service and the London Fire Brigade attended the scene, where three people were trapped in the wreckage. The injured received emergency treatment for their injuries, with six taken to hospital. One had a potentially life-threatening injury, according to the Met.
A Met Police spokesperson said: “The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards was immediately informed and a referral made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct which is a required step whenever vehicles are involved in a collision involving death or serious injury following a police pursuit.
“The IOPC will now carry out an independent investigation.”
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