The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Eye-witness shocked after seeing pickup truck go wrong way
An eye-witness has described the shocking moment he witnessed the fatal head-on collision on the Frank Perkins Parkway which killed Marko Makula, Jana Kockova and Tomas Kocko.
Shortly after midnight on Sunday morning Jonathan Digby from Spalding entered the parkway from Stanground, heading towards Boongate, when he saw a Ford Ranger pickup truck enter the road on the opposite carriageway, having driven down the slip road the wrong way.
Moments later the vehicle hit a Renault Megane, killing all three people inside.
The driver of the Ford, a 26-year-old from the Spalding area, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and driving while under the influence of drink and/or drugs.
However, he was de-arrested by police on Tuesday.
He remains in a critical, but stable, condition in hospital.
Mr Digby, who had seen the pickup truck shortly before it entered the parkway, said: “We had come in a car from Farcet as there had been a gin festival. My partner was driving as she does not like gin. We drove down the slip road onto the parkway and saw that vehicle had come down the other side.
“He had only just gone past the bottom of the slip road when he hit the car. The debris came to our side and my partner screamed. We got straight on the phone to the police.
“It was scary. He had only made it onto the parkway about 20m at most.”
The Peterborough Telegraph asked police yesterday to explain why the driver of the Ford had been de-arrested.
A police spokesman said it was because the man is in a critical condition in hospital.
Police have 24 hours after making an arrest before they have to decide whether to charge someone with a crime or release them.
They can apply to hold someone for up to 36 or 96 hours if they are suspected of committing a serious crime.
It is expected the man arrested over the crash will be re-arrested should his condition improve and he is fit to be questioned.