Man crushed by taxi after falling into road
A ‘CARING’ young man was crushed to death by a taxi after falling into the road following a night out, an inquest has heard.
Aiden Worthington, 24, had spent the hours leading up to his death drinking at pubs around Prestwich town centre with his dad.
CCTV footage showed him ‘staggering’ along Bury New Road in the early hours of the morning, just moments before he was crushed by a taxi as he lay prone in the middle of the street.
An inquest into his death yesterday heard that it was ‘unclear’ exactly how Aiden had ended up in the road, but it was likely he had ‘stumbled’ and fallen prior to the collision.
He suffered multiple injuries and died at the scene.
Rochdale Coroners Court heard Aiden had spent the evening of April 27, 2019, drinking in two Prestwich pubs with his father, Robert Worthington.
Mr Worthington said that although his son was ‘quite drunk’ by this point, he still ‘seemed his normal self.’
At 12.18am, Mr Worthington ordered a taxi to go home, but Aiden told him he wanted to stay out. After unsuccessfully trying to persuade his son to join him, Mr Worthington left in the taxi alone.
PC Darren White, from Greater Manchester Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, told the hearing that police were unsure of Aiden’s movements in the 90 minutes that followed.
The inquest heard that taxi driver Kamran Khan was driving his Mercedes Vito van along Bury New
Road in the same direction as Aiden when he thought he had gone over a speed bump.
He carried on driving for 56 metres before pulling over to take a look around the vehicle. Initially, he could not see anything but his passenger, a colleague who he was giving a lift home, then noticed Aiden’s body at the back end of the vehicle.
Pathologist Dr Philip Lumb gave Aiden’s cause of death as ‘chest, abdominal and pelvis injuries,’ which he said were consistent with him having been struck while lying in the road.
Mr Cox ruled that Aiden had died as a result of a ‘road traffic collision.’
He added: “I dismiss any suggestion that Aiden was lying in the roadway intentionally. I believe the likelihood is that Aiden somehow stumbled and fell to the roadway before the collision took place.”