Liverpool parade crash news: Victim ‘pleaded with driver to stop’ after devastating crash that injured 65 fans – UK Times

Liverpool manager Arne Slot was due to receive the LMA’s manager of the year award but chose not to attend the London ceremony last night “out of solidarity with all affected”.

In a letter he wrote: “This is not a decision I have taken lightly but it is one that I feel is absolutely right given the seriousness of the situation.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the wider football community, including the LMA itself, the Premier League and many clubs who will be represented tonight, for the support we have received over the last 24 hours.

“Football is and always should be a game built on rivalry, but it is also a great source of comradeship, especially at times like this.”

Slot also paid tribute to the emergency services, the authorities in Liverpool and “supporters and bystanders who helped one another in an hour of need”.

“I think everyone involved in the aftermath deserves the gratitude of all of us,” he added.

Sir Mark Rowley has called for personal details to increasingly be released by police earlier in the wake of Merseyside Police’s decision to disclose the ethnicity of the man arrested over the Liverpool parade crash.

The Metropolitan Police commissioner, however, would not be drawn on the question of whether he thought the force had made the right call to describe the man as white and British upon his arrest.

Sir Mark told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning: “I’m not going to criticise another police chief who makes a judgement in a really difficult situation.”

But to the more broader question of whether delcaring ethnicity sooner is the way forward, he said: “In general, I think we have to be realistic and more often put more personal details in public earlier.”

Citing how quickly misinformation and disinformation spreads on social media, Sir Mark said: “In that world, putting more facts out is the only way to deal with it… Trying to avoid truths when half truths are out in the public domain will be difficult to avoid.”

Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes the horrific scenes at the club’s victory parade showed there were “more serious” matters than football.

A 53-year-old white, British man from West Derby has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving and driving whilst unfit through drugs after dozens of people were injured by a car on Water Street, close to the end of the route.

Klopp, who attended the Premier League game against Crystal Palace and watched Monday’s parade from near to where the incident occurred, said that had destroyed “one of the greatest days in the history of the city”, after he was inducted into the League Managers Association Hall of Fame 1,000 Club on Tuesday.

“It should have been one of the greatest days in the history of the city, after a long time because we didn’t have the opportunity to do it last time,” said the German, whose 2020 Premier League winners were denied a similar celebration due to Covid restrictions.

“It just showed the two faces of life. The most beautiful face for a long time: the parade was incredible, the mood was incredible.

“And from one second to another everything changed and we learned again there are more serious things in the world than football.

“Thoughts and prayers go to the injured people and their families as well. I don’t know how and why it happened but we know what happened and that’s very bad.”

The Independent’s crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin reports:

A security expert has said the tragedy at Liverpool’s Premier League celebration parade “could easily have been prevented” as he questioned how a car was able to get so close to the crowd.

Lee Doddridge, who has trained the UK’s counter terrorism security advisors at National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) and planned major events like the Ryder Cup in Wales in 2010, told The Independent: “It could have easily been prevented. Regardless of the circumstances, the vehicle shouldn’t have been anywhere within that cordon.”

He said Merseyside Police have “a lot of questions to answer” over the incident, which left 50 people wounded after a people carrier ploughed into crowds on Water Street.

Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims last night told a press conference that there were “robust” traffic management measures in place for the parade.

However Mr Doddridge added: “Merseyside Police commented that they had a well-managed traffic plan, but clearly it wasn’t that well planned because a vehicle was able to get so close.”

He continued: “Clearly they deployed the wrong tactics. They had police snipers on the rooftops, but you wouldn’t have taken a shot into a crowd of tens of thousands of people – plus the area was covered in smoke from fireworks and flares.

“What they should have been doing was making sure that the area was safe for people to gather.”

The Independent’s Alex Ross reports from the scene in Liverpool:

A family of four visiting from Ireland say they are thankful for “heroic” Liverpool fans who pushed them out of the way of the income vehicle.

Paul O’Brien was with his 11-year-old son Danny, and parents Marie and Peter, when they heard a commotion further down Water Road.

They saw people jumping on the top of a car as it passed a stationary ambulance on the street, heading toward them.

“They [the people jumping on the car] got the car stopped and then it got away again and we were pushed to the side as it came past us,” said Paul, aged 39.

“It passed us by inches, and then it continued and we could actually hear the thuds of people being hit. It was just a terrible scene. There wee kids, men and women on the ground.”

“The men who pushed us out of the way were amazing, it was heroic stuff, young Liverpool supporters. They didn’t think for a second, only for those people they don’t know.”

After the incident, the family went inside an Airbnb on Water Street, where they stayed for the evening.

“We intended to go out for a few drinks, but we were so upset we came back and just stayed in for the night. Danny was shaking. It is hard for the fella to see it going on, it was very hard to understand.”

The Princess Royal was on Tuesday pictured visiting the Royal Liverpool University Hospital today following the parade crash.

Princess Anne met with members of the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) team to thank emergency responders following the incident in Liverpool on Monday evening.

Treading slowly out of their Airbnb on to the heavily-policed street, the O’Brien family turned to inspect the aftermath of the appalling events the evening before.

Behind the tangled cordon, empty beer bottles and takeaway boxes were strewn across the deserted road. In the distance, a forensic officer checked the road surface for evidence.

For the sombre-looking family-of-four, it was like waking up from a violent nightmare, hoping it was just a dream. But it wasn’t.

Less than 24 hours earlier, the group were among thousands of joyous Liverpool fans packed into the street for their team’s Premier League-winning parade.

Our reporter Alex Ross writes from Liverpool:

Liverpool fan Alex Todd, who runs Liverpool FC fan account ‘Don Kopleone’ on X, told The Independent about the horrifying scenes in the immediate aftermath of Monday’s incident.

He was part of a crowd which surged into a nearby Hooters bar as the car plowed through the celebrating fans just metres away.

“Suddenly, I heard lots of shouting, felt a surge push me and tens of others into the bar, while one guy who had been standing next to me turned and sprinted in the other direction towards what I would later learn was the car,” Mr Todd said.

As soon as he heard about the car, Mr Todd said he was “panicking” about his little sister who had got caught up in the crowd a few metres behind him.

“I saw her falling through a crowd into the bar about twenty seconds later and she burst into tears immediately, the car had only been a few metres away from her,” he added. “I texted family group chats immediately to let people know there had been some kind of incident but for the moment we were together and safe.”

The bar went under lockdown for the next hour, the 25-year-old said, before they were let out through the back doors “quite shaken up but thankfully all safe”.