A 53-year-old man drove into a huge crowd of Liverpool fans celebrating their Premier League triumph in the city centre leading to dozens of people being injured
A driver of the car that ploughed into a large crowd in Liverpool and injured dozens of people may have been attempting to follow an ambulance, it has been claimed.
Police arrested a 53-year-old man following the harrowing scenes in Water Street on Monday evening where a car was driven into crowds that had gathered in the city centre to watch Liverpool’s Premier League victory parade. It has been confirmed that at least 47 people were injured as the vehicle hit the crowds, with 20 – including two children – taken for hospital treatment. Today Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said that four people remained ‘very, very ill’ in hospital.
Merseyside Police are carrying out extensive enquiries to establish the circumstances leading up to the incident, with questions being asked about how the car was able to access a key city centre road that had been closed to traffic because of the parade.
One line of enquiry is that the car was following or attempting to follow an ambulance that was moving through the crowd, reports the Liverpool Echo. This may have have led to some of the gathered crowd attempting to stop the vehicle before it then lurched forward and ploughed into the crowds, injuring many people.
And an insider told the Mail: “It looks as if he has panicked when he realised he was in the crowd and people began banging on his car. Instead of going back the way he came he’s got angry and put his foot down, it’s absolutely devastating.”
Multiple sources have said that the idea that the driver tailgated an ambulance is a working theory for how the car gained access to Water Street. It is understood that the police are considering this as a line of enquiry.
Speaking about the driver of the car and any potential motive during a press conference on Monday evening, Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims said: “The car stopped at the scene and a 53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area was arrested. We believe him to be the driver of the vehicle.
“What I can tell you is that we believe this to be an isolated incident and we are not currently looking for anyone else in relation to it. The incident is not currently being treated as terrorism.”
One person who witnessed the horrific aftermath of the incident was Dumisani Moyo, who had travelled up from London to watch the parade and was staying with friends and family at an Air BnB in Water Street, just yards from where the grim scenes unfolded.
“We got back here just after it had happened. We weren’t able to go back into our accommodation,” he said. “It was mayhem, it had just happened.
“It was really horrific stuff. The car was still there, we could see it. People were lying hurt on the floor. It had been a beautiful day, the people of Liverpool are great, we had a wonderful time and then that happened. We couldn’t get into our accommodation until about 11pm. But we are ok, we are safe and we pray for the people who got hurt. We wish them the best.”
