Pages

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Toddler catapulted into air and caught by her father as hit-and-run van driver 'mows down' FOURTEEN innocent people in just 30 minutes


A toddler was catapulted into the air and caught by her father in a scene described as a 'miracle' after being hit by a van driver on a hit-and-run rampage yesterday.
 Adam Lewis 23 (top) who witnessed his partner Annie Lewis 22 (right) & daughter Amelia-May Lewis 2 (centre) being knocked over. He caught his daughter after she was catapulted in mid-air
Adam Lewis 23 (top) who witnessed his partner Annie Lewis 22 (right) & daughter Amelia-May Lewis 2 (centre) being knocked over. He caught his daughter after she was catapulted in mid-air


Two-year-old Amelia-May Lewis, who was being pushed in a pram by her mother, Annie, 22, suffered injuries to her face, which left her covered in blood. The driver mowed down pedestrians - including parents and young children - during a three-mile trail of mayhem during the school run. A mother of three was killed and eleven others injured, two of whom were in intensive care last night.


In ‘absolutely chaotic’ scenes, the driver is said to have even reversed over some victims after hitting them. The dead woman – named locally as Karina Menzies, 32, was among at least seven children and four adults hit by the van.  She died after being knocked down outside a fire station. The survivors’ injuries included a broken leg and cuts and bruises. Witnesses said the man hit pedestrians in the Ely and Leckwith areas of Cardiff at 3.30pm, when parents were picking children up from school. Pedestrians tried to stop the Transit van but it mounted the pavement and sped off before the driver was eventually seized by police officers.

The local accident and emergency hospital unit was so overwhelmed it had to shut to any patients other than those injured by the van driver. The commotion started after the white van tried to escape from the scene of a crash outside an Asda supermarket in Leckwith, witnesses said.  The vehicle sped off, driving at people walking home after school, careering wildly down suburban roads and on to pavements. Among those knocked down were student Mrs Lewis, her husband Adam and daughter Amelia-May. Mrs Lewis, who suffered a broken leg, was taken to hospital in one of the fleet of at least seven ambulances at one of the scenes in Ely.

Witness Anne Rahman, 62, told The Sun: 'The dad caught her, it was a miracle. He was shaking'. Adam’s grandmother, Maureen Lewis, 80, said: ‘It was total mayhem out there.  ‘The driver of the white van was driving fast and furious at anyone in his path. Adam, Annie and Amelia were hit.’ She added: ‘Thank God they are alive. It is terrifying that so many people have been knocked down.’  Shopkeeper Phil Jones said: ‘People were rushing out of houses trying to help the injured people and covering them with blankets until the ambulances arrived. ‘The baby was covered in blood – people were just lying on the pavements. ‘He drove straight across four lanes of the road and smashed into a man and woman with their baby in a pushchair. ‘He just smashed into them before screaming round on the road and heading away. ‘In about 100 yards, he veered off the road and hit another two boys and a mother and a boy on a bike.’

Lynda Paterson, 34, said the scene outside her house was ‘chaotic’. She added: ‘I was going to pick my children up from school and I could see there were police and someone was lying on the floor, on the pavement. ‘I could see police running back and forth along the road and I now know there was a child who had been hit.’  Natalie Howell, 28, added: ‘I was on my way home from school when I saw the van. People tried blocking off the van to stop it driving off but he went up on the pavement and sped off.’

Gail Harford, 40, said: ‘The driver was not just running over people but reversing over them too. It’s too horrendous for words.’ Ely sub-postmaster Shady Taha, 29, had just served two girls and a young woman moments before one of the incidents outside a row of shops. He said the two girls - aged about 10, and a woman in her mid-20s - had been browsing the birthday cards in the store before purchasing a jar of coffee and leaving. He said: 'All of a sudden I heard a bang. I looked out and across the road one girl was on the floor and the other girl was screaming. 'I heard a van speed off but I did not see it.' Other eyewitnesses said pedestrians were deliberately targeted by someone driving a white van. 'We had a customer in our shop who said the van mounted the kerb like the driver wanted to run down young kids with their parents,' a shop worker in Grand Avenue, who did not want to be named, said.

A spokesman for South Wales Police confirmed the force had arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of murder. He said: ‘This is a tragic incident that has affected a large number of people, and we thank the people of Cardiff for their help and support. ‘Incidents like this are extremely rare here, as they are across South Wales, and we want to reassure the public that a significant number of officers are working on the investigation, including a number of specialist resources. ‘Whether the actions were deliberate or reckless is a matter for the inquiry and the person will obviously be spoken to.’

Dr Grahame Shortland, medical director at the University Hospital of Wales, said those being treated mostly had fractures and head injuries.
A spokesman for the hospital said two of the adults were in intensive care last night and their condition was stable but critical.


Daily Mail UK
please share

No comments:

Post a Comment