POLICE CHASE HORROR
Boy of 10 and aunt killed, 3 girls injured as thief pursued by cops mows down family
A BOY of ten and his aunt were killed yesterday after a stolen car being chased by police ploughed into them as they walked to a park. Makayah McDermott and his aunt were strolling in the sunshine with three other family members when a black Ford Focus mounted the pavement at high speed.
The boy’s 13-year-old twin sisters and another girl, thought to be the aunt’s own daughter, were injured when the car flipped on top of them and trapped them.
Last night it emerged that Makayah was a child actor who had auditioned for a new TV series set in the 1950s only last week.
Within minutes of the crash, just after 2pm yesterday, more than 20 men had gathered to lift the car to free the girls, who were taken to hospital with multiple injuries, including broken legs.
Emergency services battled to save the schoolboy and his aunt but they died at the scene in Penge, near Bromley, south-east London.
The victims were on their way to the Alexandra Recreation Ground just a few minutes’ walk away, which was busy with dozens of families enjoying the last few days of the summer holidays.
Meanwhile the 23-year-old driver, who had been chased by police at top speed for around five minutes, was filmed running away from the abandoned vehicle. He hid in a bush but was quickly arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and car theft after being pursued.
Tony Dennis, a local hairdresser, said all three
‘The grandad was holding her as she was dying’
siblings caught up in the tragedy were child actors, and the twins had appeared in a cereal advert. ‘The kids were very sweet,’ he said. ‘They all went to acting school. He was a happy boy, always laughing, always had smiles. It’s rare you see children like that who are naturally gifted with smiles.’
Venissa Vassell, 18, who tried to resuscitate the aunt after the crash, said: ‘I head the scream and the smash of the car. I started to run towards them and I saw the bodies the road and I then got on the phone to the ambulance.
‘I saw five bodies under the car. The twin girls, the aunt, another girl and the boy. The twins were at the front of the car.
‘I looked at the boy under the car all I could see was his body. And the boys lifted up the car and got them out and put the car back down.’
Miss Vassell said the grandfather of the children held the woman as she was dying.
‘The grandad was holding her as she was dying. I was telling him she was going to make it, I was trying to comfort him. But in her face she was cold, she was not moving, she was dead,’ she said.
Two of the injured girls were able to crawl out from underneath the vehicle after it was lifted, but another girl, thought to be the woman’s daughter, injured her legs.
Miss Vassell added: ‘The little girl had broken two of her legs. She was stuck under the car screaming in agony, “I can’t feel my legs.”
‘She was asking for the little boy. I went over and he was talking to me. I said, “You’re doing a good job, you’re going to be all right.”’ But the boy died at the scene.Another witness said: ‘We
believe the little boy was the nephew and the lady was his aunt. They were on their way to the park. It’s tragic. They were just going to have a nice day in the park and that idiot crushed a whole family.’
Tayla Goodman said the police chase passed a Sainsbury’s supermarket before the car careered around the corner at the junction of Lennard Road.
She told Sky News: ‘I saw children running away from there in absolute tears, unable to speak. It just looked like complete carnage, it was awful. A woman ran through the police tape shouting, “That’s my baby!”’
Last night Scotland Yard referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission as it emerged that the tragedy happened just five minutes after police in two black BMWs gave chase to a stolen vehicle.
There were 498 crashes involving a pursuit by Metropolitan Police officers in London in 2015/16, up from 434 in the previous year. Police watchdogs have repeatedly raised concerns that emergency drivers are taking ‘unnecessary risks’ in dangerous situations.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘The driver of the car, a 23-year-old man, has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and theft of a motor vehicle. He remains in custody at a south London police station.
‘Inquiries into the collision continue by officers from the Roads and Transport Policing Command.’