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'It missed us by inches': Witnesses describe car driving into crowd at Liverpool FC parade

Hafsa Khalil
BBC News
PA Media Police officer crouched down talking to man wrapped in emergency service blanket at he sits on the floor. Lots of fans are standing behind them in red, some are wearing coats or holding umbrellas to protect them from the rainPA Media

Witnesses have described the "horrendous" moment a car "rammed" into a crowd of people who were attending Liverpool FC's victory parade following their Premier League win.

Merseyside Police said a number of pedestrians were hit by the vehicle in Water Street, Liverpool just after 18:00 BST. Dozens were injured, two of them seriously, with 27 treated in hospital.

A 53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area was arrested, police said, adding that he is believed to have been the driver.

One eyewitness, BBC reporter Matt Cole, said the car missed him and his family "by literally inches".

"We had just moments before watched fireworks going off, the celebrations of the Liverpool bus ing us on the Strand," he said.

He said an ambulance had just made its way through the "dense" crowd he was part of on Water Street, when "there were screams ahead of us and suddenly this dark blue car just came through the crowd".

"It just wasn't stopping - I managed to grab my daughter who was with me and jump out of the way.

"It missed myself and my family by literally inches."

He said the ambulance acted like a "natural barrier... that slowed the car down", but that it had "no intention - it appeared - of stopping". He added that the car looked to be travelling at "more than 20 [mph]", but that he could not be sure it was not 30mph.

"As it ed me, it was being chased by a group of men who were trying to bang on the side of it and throw things at it," he explained, adding that the rear windshield had been "completely smashed in".

Having moved to safety down a side street, he saw police "running from all over, ambulances, police vans... more and more ambulances, more and more police vans - at one point then an entire squad of armed police cars stopped and people jumped out with rifles and again big medical packs on and began running towards the scene of the incident."

He said his initial assumption was that the driver just wanted to "barge through crowds because they didn't want to wait".

"But suddenly then, the speed ed and the shouts of the people and the screams of the people ed, and at that point, yeah, adrenaline very much just kicks in".

PA Media A police officer helps a woman wrapped in foil blanket walk down the road, and a man in a black jacket has his arm wrapped around their should as he talks to the womanPA Media
Some 47 people were treated for injuries

Harry Rashid was at the parade with his wife and three daughters when they saw the vehicle "ploughing towards pedestrians".

"At first we were shocked that the vehicle could even get there because it was just full of pedestrians," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"My daughters saw the whole thing and started crying. We were trying to console them and tell them it would be OK. But it's difficult when your own emotions are heightened and you don't know if it will be OK."

Another eyewitness, Chelsea, said she was "centimetres away" from the car as it ploughed into the crowd.

"All of a sudden we heard screaming and beeping. I grabbed my friend, she grabbed her daughter and it skimmed past us," she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"We were shocked but didn't know the gravity of it at that point," she added.

"We saw people chasing the car with the windows smashed. People were banging on a police riot van and asking for help."

Off-duty BBC reporter Dan Ogunshakin, who was in the city for the parade, said "suddenly a lot of people started to surround" a car, which was front of an ambulance that was moving through the crowd.

He said he and his friend then noticed "people were hitting the car and shaking the car and we wondered why this was suddenly happening".

The car then reversed and knocked people away from it, he explained, then "it suddenly accelerated forwards" straight towards the crowd of people. "People scattered like bowling pins."

"What had once been an atmosphere of celebration and joy and happiness suddenly turned into fear and terror and disbelief," he said, adding it become "hell on Earth".

Matthew O'Carroll, 28, from Runcorn said he had approached the top of Water Street when the car "came past a parked police van at a decent speed".

"People managed to get out of the way as he was beeping as he went through but as he went past, people were obviously very angry and so started running after the car.

"The back window of the car was already smashed.

"I thought that once it went past us, it was just someone that was trying to get away from something and would slow down when he got to more people."

Another witness, Mike Maddra, was walking with a group of friends, when he saw a car "speeding up" and hitting pedestrians.

He said the "car turned left, mounted pavement, come towards us and runs towards the buildings".

He added that he thought he saw two people being hit, and that "it looked deliberate".

"It has just ruined the day really," he said.