Two police officers and five teenagers 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 travelling the wrong way down the dual carriageway collided with their vehicle, which was going in the correct direction.
Victims and investigation
The families of the five people travelling in the Volkswagen are being supported by officers, Cleveland Police said on Saturday. They have been named locally as Michael Ray, Theo Rae, Cole Worthy, Jakub Matusiak and 18-year-old Makai Saddington.
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.
Pursuit details and witness account
It is understood the police vehicle the officers were travelling in was not part of the pursuit. 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.
Teesville resident Neil Hutchinson told the Mail on Sunday: "There were police cars tearing down the street at 3.30am with lights flashing and their sirens going, it woke me up."
Ongoing measures and unanswered questions
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.
What specifically triggered the pursuit of the Passat, and why officers had marked the vehicle as suspicious, remains unknown. It is also unclear for how long the Volkswagen was being pursued and where exactly it travelled, and why the vehicle Pc Blades and Pc Clough were travelling in was on the A66 at the time of the crash.
