Man fights for his life after cop chase crash
Witness tells of wailing as victim is cut from car by emergency services
A YOUNG man was fighting for his life after a late-night crash following a police pursuit.
Officers withdrew from the chase moments before the car driver lost control.
The Vauxhall Meriva crashed shortly after 1.30am yesterday.
A 20-year-old passenger was last night critical in hospital, while a 27-year-old woman passenger suffered serious injuries but her condition was described as stable.
The driver, also 20, who was arrested over alleged traffic offences, was also in Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, where his condition is described as serious.
Police had pursued the car for a few miles but called it off because of safety fears. A source said: “The car was being driven suspiciously and officers attempted to stop the vehicle.
“The driver continued to drive in a manner that concerned the officers following and they stood down their pursuit.”
Police Scotland have referred the incident to PIRC, which is standard procedure.
Residents in Robertson Terrace, which looks on to where the crash took place on Edinburgh Road in Baillieston, Glasgow, told of their shock
One man said he saw emergency services performing CPR on a person at the scene.
He said: “I heard a bang and looked out my window to see that a car had crashed and was sitting diagonally across Edinburgh Road.
“There were police vans, cars, ambulances and fire engines all over the street. It was quite a commotion.
“At one point I saw them pull a person out the back seat of the car.
“They lay them on the ground and started to perform CPR, pressing down repeatedly on their chest.
“That carried on for some time and then they got the person on to a stretcher and put them in an ambulance.”
In nearby Rhinsdale Crescent, a woman revealed how she woke up to the sound of someone crying in pain. She said: “I woke up to the sound of a wailing voice and thought it was a group of drunken people.
“But I looked outside and I could just see emergency services cutting someone out of a crashed car.
“They had to cut the whole roof off. So then I realised the person was wailing as they were being cut out of the car. It’s usually so quiet here so it was terrifying to witness.”
Another man told how police spent around an hour looking down drains in the street with torches.
Officers said no one had been charged yet and urged any witnesses to contact them.