In May 2024, 32-year-old Robert English was electrocuted and then struck by a train sent to search for him.
It started at Colindale station in North London, where police responded to reports of a fight. English, reportedly seeming unwell or in distress, ran down to the tracks. Two officers opted to “contain” rather than restrain him.
Containment, in this context, refers to establishing a perimeter around a person to limit their movement, essentially boxing them in. English slipped past the officer’s containment strategy, watching English as he disappeared into the darkness.
Man Killed on Tube Track by Train During Police Search
The power to the tracks was cut, but only temporarily. Believing that English had climbed over a fence and escaped into a nearby park, police left the railway.
Also, under the assumption that English had hopped a fence into a park, a train station manager gave the green light to restore power. No one knew that English was still walking along the tracks some 400 to 600 meters away. The power kicked back on, and English was electrocuted. Then, adding insult to injury, a train that was dispatched to search for him ran him over.
Coroner Andrew Walker called the entire response “inadequate” as the train did not have proper lighting or equipment for night searches. A series of key safety protocols were not followed, like alerting all relevant personnel before reactivating the power.
Walker also singled out a bigger issue: the lighting on the tracks is the same at night as during the day, meaning it is almost non-existent. The train crew could not see the man they were looking for on the tracks in front of them, something that should’ve been clear as day, even at night.
Public apologies were issued, and a formal investigation was launched to review procedures; however, it doesn’t seem that the procedures were necessarily the problem. It’s that nobody followed any procedures, just winged it, leading to a death that should’ve been preventable.
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