Clarkson, the fatal crash and a truly tasteless tweet
He whines about road closure after street racers kill pensioner
annoyed that a ‘nasty crash’ had closed a road, Jeremy Clarkson fired off an angry tweet about how long police were taking to reopen it.
But what the ex-Top Gear presenter didn’t know was that the smash had killed an innocent driver in his 70s who was caught up in an illegal street race.
Police later hit back at the outspoken broadcaster, telling him his inconvenience was secondary to the death of a motorist. dozens of Twitter users accused him of lacking compassion, while another officer invited Clarkson to see how they deal with emergencies.
The elderly crash victim and his wife were caught in a terrifying multiple pile-up involving three cars in a high-speed race along the a4 in Hammersmith, west London. officers say six other cars are thought to have been involved in the early hours of Friday.
as police imposed traffic restrictions in the aftermath, Clarkson told his seven million Twitter followers: ‘dear The Police – I know it was a nasty crash in Hammersmith last night but how can it take this long to re-open a road?’
one officer replied to Clarkson, 59: ‘Sorry you were delayed @JeremyClarkson – perhaps you’d like to come with us and personally explain to the family of the deceased that we didn’t investigate the death of their loved one thoroughly because you wanted to get home?
‘That their loss is a complete irrelevance to you?’
Later the officer added: ‘We don’t want to close roads. We even get caught up in closures ourselves... days off, heading home etc but sometimes we have to.’
a crash scene investigator also said: ‘Come to a fatal with me as a collision investigator. I will educate you as to why we keep the road closed for as long as we do. Bring some shoe covers with you, hate for you to get blood/body matter on your posh shoes.’ after the criticism, Clarkson added: ‘I’m sure it was terrible.. But once the injured are sorted, the number one priority is opening the road.
‘Driving home with his wife’
Blame is irrelevant.’ The accident led to the closure of the a4 Great West Road – one of the main routes in and out of the capital, linking to the M4.
Three people – two men and a woman – were arrested at the scene on suspicion of dangerous driving. another man who fled after the collision later turned himself in to police and has also been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving. Three people have been released under investigation.
one of the suspects remained in hospital yesterday after suffering minor injuries. The pensioner’s wife, also in her 70s, is in a stable condition in hospital.
detective Constable Liam Kerrigan, of the Metropolitan Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: ‘ our initial enquiries have established that up to nine cars were travelling at high speed at the time of the collision. They appear to have been in convoy and may well have been racing. The man who tragically died was an innocent member of the public, driving home with his wife and following the rules of the road.
‘We need to hear from the other drivers involved, other motorists and eye-witnesses in the area who saw what happened, or have dashcam footage of what exactly took place at the time of the collision, or in the minutes beforehand.’
‘I would urge those who were driving as part of this convoy to search their conscience and get in touch with police.’