The driver of a car that ploughed into a crowd, injuring 65 people, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and driving while under the influence of drugs, British police said.
The mood in Liverpool had been jubilant. Paul O’Brien and his family had flown in from Ireland to celebrate their football team’s Premier League title. “Everyone’s singing all day, everyone having a good time, everyone talking to one another,” O’Brien recalled.
“And then — ”
Standing along Water St in the heart of Liverpool on Monday, O’Brien, his son and his parents suddenly found themselves being shoved, hard, by a surging crowd. Out of nowhere, a dark grey car was barrelling down a street jammed with pedestrians. Had it not been for the people pushing them out of the way, O’Brien said on Tuesday, they might have been in the vehicle’s path.
“We didn’t realise until we were pushed,” O’Brien said. “And then we actually realised, ‘Oh, something went on here.’ There were people lying on the ground. But the people of Liverpool were amazing. Those people were very brave to push kids and people out of the way.”
In an instant, a joyful day had turned dark. Around 6pm Monday, the police said, a 53-year-old British man ploughed his vehicle into the crowd, injuring 65 people, including 27 who were sent to hospitals. Two people, including a child, were seriously injured. A fire department spokesperson said that four people had to be pulled from underneath the car.
At a news conference on Tuesday, the British police said that the driver of the car, a seven-seat Ford Galaxy minivan, had gained access to Water St, which had been closed for the parade, by slipping behind an ambulance when a barrier was moved. The ambulance had been called for a member of the public who appeared to be having a heart attack.
Why the driver was not stopped was unclear, the police said. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving and driving while unfit because of drugs. A spokesperson for the Merseyside Police Department told reporters that the driver had tested positive for drugs.
Though video that spread quickly online was horrifying, the police said there were no fatalities. By Tuesday afternoon, only 11 people remained hospitalised and all were expected to make a full recovery. But the trauma of a vehicle slamming into a sea of pedestrians has deeply shaken this proudly working class city on England’s northwestern coast.
Liverpool is a place long obsessed with football. It is home to two top-tier clubs, Liverpool and Everton, but the parade on Monday was the first time in years that fans of Liverpool FC, many of whom come from around the world, could put their enthusiasm on full display. The last time the team won the Premier League was during Covid, when no public celebration was possible.
Despite the rain and a chill in the air, hundreds of thousands had turned out along the 16km route to honour their team.
“In the city, there were beers, chanting all the time,” said Michael Krüger, a lawyer who had flown to Liverpool with his brother, Christian, from Copenhagen, Denmark. “It was wet, but the mood was good. Everywhere, no harsh words, no fighting. Everyone was just hugging each other. It was very nice.”
That cheer abruptly turned to disbelief, sadness and anger, especially for people who had been walking along Water St and who witnessed the sudden acceleration of the car. But even for some in other parts of the city, far from the mayhem, the news offered a grim reminder of traumas past.
Liverpool has reckoned with significant tragedy over the past four decades, including the deaths of 97 football fans who were crushed in the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster. In 2021, a man detonated an explosive device outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital, killing himself and wounding a taxi driver. And last summer, a British-born man fatally stabbed three young girls at a dance studio in Southport, a small town north of the city.
King Charles III acknowledged that painful history in a statement on Tuesday, while highlighting the city’s resilience. “At this heartbreaking time for the people of Liverpool,” he said, “I know that the strength of community spirit for which your city is renowned will be a comfort and support to those in need.”
Rebecca Hasted and her husband, Dave Hasted, from Basingstoke, south of London, both Liverpool FC fans, had attended the parade and were back in their accommodation when they got a call from a relative. They turned on the television and logged into their social media accounts.
“We watched a video,” Rebecca Hasted said. “It was horrendous, so upsetting, so upsetting. Just how someone could do that. How did they do that? Why?”
Paul Morley, an engineer from Cork, Ireland, had ducked into the Saddle Inn, a pub just a block or two from where the incident happened, to get out of the rain. The day had been “brilliant,” he said. Then he heard the commotion. When he walked out to the street, he could see that something bad had happened.
“The medics, the ambulances were flying by,” he said. “We walked past the scene where there were people on the ground, and the paramedics and all the lifesaving equipment.”
Morley said it took some time for word about the incident to make its way through the enormous crowd of fans as they made their way back to their homes or hotels. “Then the atmosphere just kind of collapsed,” he said.
By Tuesday morning, the city was beginning to recover, but evidence of the car ramming and its aftermath was everywhere. Water St was still roped off and closed to traffic as investigators continued to build their case.
The police said they were conducting an “extensive investigation” into the reasons behind the incident and the exact route the driver took throughout the day.
Detective Chief Superintendent Karen Jaundrill of the Merseyside Police said that police were making extensive use of CCTV cameras across the city to try to establish the movements of the car.
“Detectives are making significant progress,” she told reporters, “as we seek to establish the full circumstances that led to this awful incident and bring the person responsible to justice.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Michael D. Shear
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