Man crushed to death in dustcart after climbing into rubbish bin ‘to hide from cops’
A MAN found crushed to death in a dustcart is suspected to have climbed into a rubbish bin to hide from cops.
It is thought he was unwittingly tipped into the truck by council contractors collecting bins.
The man, in his late 40s, was found in the rear of the bin lorry at 9.25am on Monday.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police had been called 20 minutes earlier to a domestic disturbance nearby in which a woman in her late 40s and a young boy were hurt.
A male suspect fled the scene and is then thought to have climbed into a bin outside council flats in Wandsworth, South West London.
Sources said police were not chasing him at the time and as there was no prior contact before his death the matter has not been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
Detectives are said to be working on the theory that he was inside the bin when it was tipped into the dustcart.
But they have not been able to rule out if he deliberately threw himself into it in a suicide bid.
A post mortem will establish the cause of death and if he was dead or alive when he fell into the dustcart.