Two police officers are among seven people who died in a crash on the A66 near Middlesbrough in the early hours of Saturday morning. PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were killed when a Volkswagen Passat – which was travelling the wrong way down the dual carriageway – collided with their vehicle that was going in the correct direction.
Details of the collision
The families of the five people who were travelling in the Volkswagen are being supported by officers, Cleveland Police said on Saturday, although they have not yet been named. PC Blades and PC Clough were travelling in a marked armed response vehicle in the correct direction on the A66 when the collision occurred at 3.39am in South Bank on Saturday.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has opened an investigation into the circumstances leading to the crash following a mandatory referral from Cleveland Police. A suspicious vehicle had earlier been spotted by Cleveland Police officers, triggering a pursuit before the car entered the A66 and collided with PC Blades and PC Clough’s police car, the IOPC said. It is understood the police vehicle the officers were travelling in was not part of the pursuit.
Pursuit and aftermath
Although the full route of the pursuit is unknown, Ring doorbell footage published by several websites, which appears to have been taken on Lime Road, Middlesbrough, minutes before the crash, shows a car being driven at speed down a residential road and being followed by police cars.
A Section 60 order – which gives officers additional stop and search powers – is in place near the site of the crash until 7.15pm on Sunday. It covers an area around Cargo Fleet Lane east, up to Normanby Road, along Longlands Road and the Trunk Road south to Ormesby Road. The A66 was still shut as of 9.15am on Sunday.
Unanswered questions
Who the five people travelling in the Passat were remains unknown. Cleveland Police said on Saturday that the families of the five people travelling in the Volkswagen have been informed and are being supported by officers. It is also not known what specifically triggered the pursuit of the Passat, why officers had marked the vehicle as suspicious, for how long the Volkswagen was being pursued and where exactly it travelled. Why the vehicle PC Blades and PC Clough were travelling in was on the A66 at the time of the crash also remains unclear.
