A stowaway died after falling thousands of feet from a plane and crash-landing on a car parked in a quiet residential street, police said today.Actually, they didn’t say that – it’s merely one line of enquiry, as a further comment shows:
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “We were called to reports of a dead body at 7.55am yesterday. The victim had multiple injuries. The death is currently being treated as unexplained.
“Speculation that he may have been a stowaway who had fallen from a plane is one line of inquiry.”Given the sort of injuries one could expect from falling from an aircraft, I’d have thought it wouldn’t take long…
But what’s the reason for that enquiry preventing people from leaving their houses?
Resident Joe Dodd said he did not hear anything in the night but woke to find the street outside sealed off by police. He said: “When I got up at eight the body was still on the pavement. They had not moved it.
“We were not allowed out of our house for ages. ”So, people are unable to go to work or take their children to school? They are kept prisoner in their homes?
Under what law? And why?
What would happen if they disobeyed? Would they be arrested under the ubiquitous (and handy!) ‘breach of the peace’ catch-all?
Do they think another suspected stowaway might plummet to the ground on top of a yummie mummie shepherding her brood to the Audi parked at the curb, and they’ll be held responsible if they don’t keep everyone behind their own doors?
Similarly, what law empowers the police to demand that people leave their homes when they spot something suspicious in a neighbouring garden shed and freak out with no good reason? Is it their desire not to be on the hook for the inevitable enquiry if that million to one chance proves right?
Or is it because there’s absolutely no comebacks on them for all the stress and inconvenience it causes people, so they might as well go ahead?
Same thing when some pratt prangs his beemer on the M6 and the police decide to close the entire motorway... in both directions for hours on end.
ReplyDeleteIf you waste the Police's time, they will prosecute you.
ReplyDeleteIf they waste your time, you can just sod off.
I'm humming "It's raining men" to myself.
ReplyDeleteMy brother was on holiday in France and got caught up a hundred yards behind a fatal road accident. Thought he was going to be there for hours so started making himself comfortable.
ReplyDeleteSoon had to hurry though, all cleared in an hour. Body chucked in the back of a wagon, car pushed off the road and let's get the cars moving.
Can't help but wonder if the British Public would tolerate their delicate sensitivites being treated to that. The howls of anguish, dead being treated without respect, where is the 1,000 page investigation in to the death of my dearest...who is to blame...i want justice etc
If your happy for accident deaths to be not investigated i am sure the police don't mind, less paperwork for them. Just don't complain when it's a relative of yours killed by a lunatic who gets away with it because it is more important to get the traffic flowing than to investigate.
I would imagine there is some law that covers the police sealing an area off. I think the road traffic act gives them power to close a road and give directions to vehicles. Asfar as people in their houses, well it is a crime scene. Someone has died and forensics need to be done. It could be a murder, body thrown out of a plane...who knows.
A human being is dead but stuff it, mum has to get to the shops. I prefer my Britain to be a bit more compassionate about others.
So i guess i disagree on this one... wouldn't do for us all to be the same!!! Respect your opinion though.
Anon, I can see your point but it helps no one if the police are not allowed to use common sense. If there are people in the sealed off area who need to get to genuine urgent appointments and are warned that there is something bloody and nasty in the middle of the road, and that it's their own fault if they freak at the sight of it, then I can't see why that cannot be done?
ReplyDeleteMind you, the coupling the concepts of police and common sense together is beyond those who purvey 'Bramshill Bullshit'. Apart from the obvious but possibly dealable with forensic issue, I do wonder whether or not there is an element of 'not wanting to be sued someone' in this?
Well, much depends (as to cause of death) on the state of the car.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a student some daft bugger decided to end it all by jumping of the top (15th) floor of his block of flats near me. His fall was broken by a car roof. He broke an ankle and suffered some bruising. the csr was a write-off.
Mind it was a Nissan Micra. The cops considered him very lucky (multiple serious injuries are common with this type of fall) and I don't even think they got the Magic Yellow Tape out for that one.
A second point is the body temp (assuming it is found quickly enough). It gets hellish cold up there. Some of them look like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining. That'show the tend to lose grip when the strut comes down. Of course some of them are also crushed and mangled when the gear is raised in the first place. That could explain the multiple injuries as well.
Here Endeth CSI:Gatwick
A body is found on top of a car in a housing estate (sorry, to maintain sensibilities of the residents, 'a residential area'). No one knows who it is, how it got there or whether it was suicide, accident, or murder. If one of the last two, there may well be residents involved. How can this be ascertained? Why not talk to the residents to see if they can shed some light on it? To allow people to leave the scene, knowing that they may well be a scum bag murderer or an ignorant, inconsiderate tw*t who caused the death of a human being, could well be termed a poor error of judgement. If the Police had allowed residents to leave, the Gruniard readers would be screaming about inept, negligent, fascist, right-wing, Police. The fact people weren't allowed to leave for some time meant that those same Gruniard readers are, naturally, screaming about high-minded, inconsiderate, fascist, Police. Until it has been ascertained otherwise, such a scene is treated as a crime scene, with the subsequent enquiries and forensic examinations and tests necessary on site. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen in 40 minutes with an advert break, nor does it end with the senior Police officer present donning a pair of aviator shades, looking thoughtful as he contemplates when he's going to get his next coffee and doughnut and then coming up with the breakthrough conclusion. However, this does not stop all those with 100% hindsight complaining about it - shame they didn't complain about it before the body fell. If they are that good, they should have foreseen it, surely?
ReplyDeletePenseivat
Penseivat,surely the priority should be to speak to and establish the identity of those in the are immediate area of the body such as the residents? That way many of those who wanted to move out of the area could have done so.
ReplyDeleteOf course hindsight is 20/20 but that shouldn't preclude debate into how such things could be handled better next time.
I also think that the French way of dealing with things isn't probably the best way as it disrespects the dead but maybe there is room for flexibility in how each event is dealt with? Constabulary discretion rather than box ticking.
Penseivat, EXACTLY.
ReplyDeleteAny way, if there are people falling out of aeroplanes all over the show, which one of those residents would be the first to complain that Granny was beheaded by a flying stiff, whilst on the way to collect her pension?
ReplyDeleteXX Any way, if there are people falling out of aeroplanes all over the show, which one of those residents would be the first to complain that Granny was beheaded by a flying stiff, whilst on the way to collect her pension? XX
ReplyDeleteSome re;lative OF YOURS most likely
Irrenhaus des Berges
Von Battenberg-Pußy.
I strapped on my equipment today when I started my shift.CS gas,handcuffs,asp and crystal ball.
ReplyDeleteThe one item that is obviously untrue is the one I need most according to this blog.
Jaded
I remember in Germany seeing a car wreck eith a body partly covered with a blanket lying alongside. The police were there but traffic was still flowing, albeit rather slowly near the spot. Within a mile the traffic was back to its usual speed. Down here in Cornwall the A30 can be closed for hours. Dreadful accident? Shouldn't think so as there is usually no report of any on the regional TV news. I sometimes wonder if we are being treated to a demonstration of authority in such cases.
ReplyDeleteYou carry an emergency asp?
ReplyDeleteMany moons ago, 1980 it was, I was working in Egypt, on a project for the Egyptian navy at Abu Qir. I and a couple of other engineers used to travel to work from our hotel in Alexandria by the local train. One day, returning from work for an 'Ice Cold In Alex' back 'home' the train stopped for an extra five minutes at one of the stations.
ReplyDeleteThe next day we learned that the delay was due to someone, probably herding goats, having fallen under the locomotive – In'sh allah, 'twas written in the book of fate, sweep up the remains and on your way. The opposite extreme of what our police now do – close down the motorway network if there is a minor shunt at Potters Bar.
WOAR, a piece of W. C. Fields' advice springs to mind. "Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite, and, furthermore, always carry a small snake."
ReplyDeleteWOAR- I carry a throw-away one that I tuck into my sock just in case I need to plant it on a suspect.Don't you watch American cop shows?
ReplyDeleteJaded.
Still, it's better than the witch falling from the broom in Nigeria ... or is it?
ReplyDelete"If you waste the Police's time, they will prosecute you.
ReplyDeleteIf they waste your time, you can just sod off."
Nail/head interface!
"Asfar as people in their houses, well it is a crime scene. Someone has died and forensics need to be done. "
In which case I could understand the household immediately where the body landed being asked but not most of the street...
"Mind you, the coupling the concepts of police and common sense together is beyond those who purvey 'Bramshill Bullshit'."
So it would seem. These days it's all 'procedure'.
Which will probably intensify with the (mostly unjustified) kicking they are getting after the Hillsborough witch hunt.
"His fall was broken by a car roof. He broke an ankle and suffered some bruising."
That's amazing! If there'd been a lottery around then, he'd have been well advised to buy a ticket! :)
" If the Police had allowed residents to leave, the Gruniard readers would be screaming about inept, negligent, fascist, right-wing, Police."
ReplyDeleteThey'll do that anyway. Like the scorpion, it's their nature.
"Of course hindsight is 20/20 but that shouldn't preclude debate into how such things could be handled better next time. "
Indeed!
"I sometimes wonder if we are being treated to a demonstration of authority in such cases."
I think it's more a case of 'we can, so we will, because it's easier - for us!'
"The opposite extreme of what our police now do – close down the motorway network if there is a minor shunt at Potters Bar."
They need their priorities to be realigned.
Jaded,
ReplyDeleteRe: falsification of evidence.
Like at Hillsborough?
Hopefully some of that mob will be seeing the other side of a cell door pretty soon.
Noggin
ReplyDeleteSo far as Statementgate is concerned, we must give police the benefit of any doubt. According to Sir Norman's Public Relations team, this was a storm in a tea-cup or rather a glitch in an ink-well.
A silicon ink which was found to form new words as it dried, has been temporarily discontinued.
Melv, Why are you replying to yourself? Ran out of medication?
ReplyDeletePenseivat
Pense,
ReplyDeleteI'm not Melv. Julia can confirm from the ip if you won't take my word for it.
Late to this one.
ReplyDeleteWas poor man wearing underpants outside trousers?
If so I think it was superhero who, er, ran out of steam and fell to earth while on a mission to save the planet, etc. Would explain why so many bad things have been happening lately if your superhero-types can't get there to deflect bullets, amend press releases, rescue cats from trees, etc.
Noggy, Just checking. I should really have known as you (sometimes) speak sense. Melv however..........!
ReplyDeletePenseivat
Don't worry about Melvin,he's hosting a party in his ward-he is glorying in police corruption from 23 years ago.He has balloons and banners up and he's stuffing himself with cake.
ReplyDeleteHe seems to forget that 96 people died to prove his point.
Jaded.
PS I'm not defending the police and lawyers that altered statements-they should be prosecuted.If anyone changed a statement of mine I wold go mad.
@ Pensive
ReplyDeleteObtaining verification for that ability to 'sometimes make sense of some people' could be a fantastic plod career move.
Anon @ 20.22,
ReplyDeleteSadly my 'career' is long over - caused by three sh*ts who beat me to a pulp because I was trying to arrest one of their mates. Still, it wasn't their fault. The cause was later discovered to be the stewards at the top of the street, the 4 Police officers who arrested the guys jumping on top of me and mine, because I deliberately put my spine in the path of their boots. Silly me. I'm expecting a reporter from the Daily Sh*te to knock at my door any day now and demand to know if I am sorry for what I did.
Penseivat
This extract from the ACPO Road Death Investigation Manual offers an insight into why a fatal/serious accident closes the road for so long.
ReplyDeleteThis manual adheres to the principle that all fatal collisions should be investigated as ‘suspicious death’ until the contrary is proved. It is, however, acknowledged that fatal collisions may include a wide range of circumstances, for example,
investigating an incident involving one vehicle which results in the death of the single occupant driver, through to a full-scale murder investigation.
Whatever the initial circumstances appear to be, all fatal collisions must be investigated to the
highest standard. As there can be no prescriptive response to cover all types of fatal collision investigation, the key investigative principles, in conjunction ...