Horror as car mows down five
THREE people were left fighting for their lives after a car mowed down five bystanders outside a car wash yesterday.
Another two were injured. Eyewitness Raee Towolawi said that at first she feared everybody had died in the horrific crash.
She arrived at the scene just moments after the Mercedes had ploughed into the pedestrians in Bellingham, south-east London.
Raee, 26, said the vehicle had smashed through bollards and lodged in a tree next to the car wash.
“I went up the road and saw all this carnage. There were two men lying flat on their backs, just lifeless or unconscious.
“There was a lady in between them who had been sat upright and all the car washers were around her trying to get her to respond.
“They were just crying and wailing over her and she wasn’t responding. They were saying her name to try and get her to wake up, and shaking her.
“I thought they were dead. I was just shocked and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There was a lot of blood as well.”
Raee had been walking to church with her mother, brother and sister when they heard screams nearby. She said: “I just thought it was people messing around or fighting nearby at the car wash but my mum said no, they sound like different types of screams.”
She believed those who were injured work and live at the car wash, and that they had been waiting outside for customers when they were hit.
Large numbers of emergency service personnel attended the scene, including police, fire, paramedics and air ambulance.
A 35-year-old woman and two men, aged 25, were rushed to hospital in a critical condition following the crash.
The woman and one of the men have since stabilised, but both remained in a serious condition last night.
According to the Metropolitan Police, the second man remained in a critical condition.
Two other men, aged 36 and 46, sustained minor injuries in the crash.
The driver of the Mercedes was arrested at the scene by an off-duty police officer.
He was detained on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and on suspicion of drinkdriving.
The driver was also taken to a south London hospital for treatment for a head injury.
A London Ambulance service spokesman said medical crews arrived at the scene in less than seven minutes.
The spokesman added: “We treated five patients for a range of head, chest and leg injuries at the scene and took all five to hospital as a priority.”