Boy, 10, and his aunt are killed by car fleeing police
A BOY aged 10 was killed along with his aunt while his twin sisters and cousin were also injured after a car being chased by police ploughed into them yesterday.
The woman and four children were on the pavement when a black Ford hit them, leaving twin girls trapped under the vehicle.
Up to 20 bystanders rushed to lift the car so the sisters, thought to be seven, could scramble to safety.
The crash left another girl of about 11 seriously hurt. Witnesses heard her scream: “I can’t feel my legs!”
Paramedics treated the three girls for multiple injuries before they were taken to hospital.
Makaya McDermott, 10 and his aunt Rosie Cooper in her 30s or 40s, were pronounced dead at the scene in Penge, south London.
Makaya’s twin sisters, named by locals as Niyah and Yayhla McDermott, aged 13, were also injured in the crash along with their cousin, understood to be Rosie’s daughter.
Makaya’s parents Omar McDermott, 37, and Danielle Cooper, 36, Rosie’s sister, who live locally, were believed to be at their injured daughters’ hospital bedside last night.
A neighbour of the family said: “The scale of the tragedy for one family is almost too much to comprehend.”
The Ford was being pursued by two police BMWs at 2.05pm as the woman, her daughter, nephew and twin nieces were heading for the park.
The Ford ploughed into them and the driver allegedly tried to run off. The car had been reported stolen.
Venissa Vassell, 18, heard police sirens and screeching tyres before the crash. She said: “I did CPR on the lady. I blew in her mouth. It wasn’t working. The boy appeared conscious for a short time but by the time I came back to speak to one of the little girls and say ‘Your brother is all right,’ he was passed out.”
Tayla Goodman saw children fleeing the scene in “absolute tears, unable to speak”.
She added: “A lady ran out across from Penge East station shouting, ‘That’s my baby... That’s my baby over there!” Ms Goodman later saw people screaming and “running through” the police cordon tape. Ilya Baxter, 23, said a young white man ran from the Ford and was chased by police.
Terrifying
He said: “I heard the cars and saw someone pointing to the police where he went. I knocked on the window and pointed.”
Police arrested and handcuffed the man as he tried to hide in bushes.
Another witness saw the boy who died. She said: “There was a little boy under the car, he looked about nine or 10, and a lady being given CPR.
“There was another little girl who had hurt legs, and two more girls who had scratches. The little boy was the nephew and the lady was his aunt.
“They were on their way to the park when the car mounted the pavement. They were doing CPR for a long time before the ambulance arrived. It’s terrifying. I was waiting there with my daughter only two hours earlier.
“It just beggars belief doesn’t it? It’s tragic. They were just going to have a nice day in the park and that idiot crushed a whole family.”
A 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and theft of a vehicle.