UK: Teen Killed By Train 'After Police Chase'

[John Ashworth]

Teen Killed By Train 'After Police Chase'

11:29pm UK, Monday August 09, 2010
Andy Winter, Sky News Online

A 16-year-old boy has been struck and killed by a train after apparently hurdling a level crossing barrier in an effort to escape police.

Moments earlier, the teenager had run from a car that was being chased by police in Enfield, north London, according to a Scotland Yard spokesman.

The spokesman said a Mercedes CLK - which officers thought was uninsured - had stopped when the gates came down near Enfield Lock station.

Two men - aged 21 and 22 - have been arrested after also fleeing the car at the crossing, he said.

He added that the pursuit lasted only "a few hundred yards".

The spokesman said: "(The victim) did climb the barriers and went on to the train track.

"A short time later he was hit by a north-bound train. We do not know the identity of the deceased at this stage."

"We can confirm that a 16-year-old youth was struck and killed by a train at Enfield Lock crossing," said a spokesman for British Transport Police.

The case has been referred to the Metropolitan Police's professional standards department to investigate.