A woman died and a man was critically injured in a vehicle crash after being chased by police over suspicions that they were flying a drone into a London prison. Officers followed the vehicle and at 03:10hrs it was seen to have been involved in a collision in Ashcombe Street at the junction of Wandsworth Bridge Road.
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The woman was pronounced dead at the scene after the collision.
The male driver, who is in his 20s, remains in a critical condition in hospital.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) – an independent body tasked with monitoring police forces in England and Wales – is investigating the officers’ actions in the lead up to the fatal crash.
An IPCC spokesman said: “The Metropolitan police referred the matter to the IPCC because a police vehicle was following the auto involved in the collision immediately prior to the incident”.
An anonymous witness said the auto hit six bollards and two fences and was on fire when emergency services arrived.
Officers arrived at the scene and a auto was seen leaving the area. The first of our medics arrived on scene in four minutes.
Acacia Smith, 25, has been named as the woman who died in the high-speed crash near Wandsworth Bridge, west London, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
“A man was taken as a priority to a major trauma centre in south London”.
Witness, Tony Plummer, whose front wall was smashed by the auto, told The Evening Standard: “I went into the front room and there was glass everywhere”.
Ten minutes later, at about 3.10am, the auto crashed in Ashcombe Street.
Police were called to Groom Crescent near Wandsworth Prison (pictured) in south-west London just after 3am on Tuesday, and began following a auto that they saw driving away. I saw the blue lights of the police, the mangled vehicle outside and the devastation.
“The police were very subdued, we were wondering where the panic was”.
Photos of the scene showed a silver auto extensively damaged and lying on its side after having ploughed into the front wall of a house.
“The house that the vehicle is outside of on Wandsworth Bridge Road itself has the front wall knocked down half way as well, I’m guessing something hit it”.
A number of buses have also been placed on diversion including routes 28, 295, N28 and N295.
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The road reopened at 4.30pm.
