Nominative determinism: Christopher Deadman

Another case of nominative determinism: The Reading and Berkshire (UK) News reports:

Christopher Deadman killed while crossing tracks at Reading West station

A teenager was killed by a train when he chose to dash across the tracks to the opposite platform instead of using a footbridge, an inquest heard.

Christopher Deadman had been out for the afternoon with his friend Kieron Sewah and they had a few drinks before going to catch the train home.

However, a coroner heard that when the pair reached the station 19-year-old Christopher jumped down onto the tracks and tried to cross the rails to the other platform instead of using the footbridge.

In a statement read at the inquest Mr Sewah said the pair had drunk around six pints and three shots at a couple of bars in Reading before going to catch the train home to Basingstoke. [The incident took place on January 15, 2015]….

In a statement read to the inquest Mr Deadman’s mother, Amanda, said her son had felt invincible and did not always think before he acted.

“On occasions my son felt that he was invincible, he didn’t always think before he acted,” Mrs Deadman added.

“He did take risks and didn’t quite see that there were consequences to his actions. I am aware that he crossed railways lines in the past.”

Recording a narritive verdict Mr Bedford ruled out suicide, instead saying Mr Deadman’s death was an accident born out of his “devil-may-care” attitude.

(Thanks to investigator Alasdair Kergon for bringing this to our attention.)