Woman and child die after car chase
Witnesses speak of horror as pair die
A woman and child died and three girls were injured when a suspected stolen car being chased by police crashed. Witnesses described hearing a car screeching before smashing into the group.
A WOMAN and child have died and three girls were injured when a suspected stolen car being chased by police crashed into a family.
Witnesses described hearing a car screeching before smashing into the group on Lennard Road, south-east London, shortly after 2pm yesterday.
Police have arrested a 23-yearold man on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. He remains in custody and police are appealing for witnesses.
Venissa Vassell, 18, heard sirens and a smash as she walked from a nearby train station and ran to help.
She said there were twin girls aged around seven trapped under the car and about 20 people came to lift the car up to free them.
The girls “crawled out”, but another girl, aged around 11, who was later taken away by ambulance, was screaming “I can’t feel my legs”.
A woman, believed to be in her late 30s or early 40s, and a 10-year-old boy she was related to, were killed, Ms Vassell said.
She said: “I did CPR on this lady. I blew in her mouth. It wasn’t working.”
Ms Vassell said that the boy who died was fine one moment, but then “by the time I came back to speak to the little girl to say ‘your brother is all right’ he was passed out.
“You can’t physically do nothing to a body that’s in that condition, you can see bones and flesh - I think he shed more blood than anyone else there.”
She said that the accident “all happened too quick” and she “could not explain” what she saw. A man who lives near the crash site said that a black car was being chased by two police BMWs when it tried to turn into Lennard Road, Penge.
“He lost control and ploughed into a family that was walking on the pavement down Lennard Road. People were trying to lift a car off a little girl. The police officers that were chasing were distraught,” the man said. “It was a horrific scene on a sunny afternoon in a sleepy place.”
Ilya Baxter, 23, saw the police chase a young white man across the road around the corner from the crashed car from a window in his flat.
He said: “I heard the cars and saw someone pointing to the police where he went.
“I knocked on the window and pointed.”
He said that the man was hiding in the bushes, and police caught him, handcuffed him, and then went to help the injured. A spokeswoman for London Ambulance Service said that three girls had multiple injuries and confirmed that a woman and boy were killed.
In Lennard Road yesterday afternoon, a body wrapped in a red blanket could be seen before police erected blue tents.
The black Ford involved in the crash was on a grass verge as a helicopter flew overhead. The road remained closed and several police officers were present.
It was a horrific scene on a sunny afternoon in a sleepy place Witness Venissa Vassell