Manchester Evening News wrote:
Woman killed in police crash
20/ 6/2008
A WOMAN has been killed and her five-year-old niece hurt after their car was involved in a smash with a police van on a 999 call.
The woman, believed to be in her 30s, died in hospital following the accident in Salford, this afternoon.
The Ford Transit police van was answering an emergency call triggered by reports that men had been fighting.
The woman, from the Salford area, was taken to Hope Hospital immediately after the accident at 3.50pm but died shortly afterwards.
Her niece was taken to the same hospital but then transferred to Manchester Royal Children’s Hospital at Pendlebury with a suspected serious head injury.
Doctors carried out a scan and concluded the girl had suffered only superficial bruising.
She is said to be recovering well.
Injuries
The girl’s father, who was driving the car at the time, was also taken to hospital although his injuries were said to be ‘minor’.
Two police officers who were in the van also suffered minor injuries.
Greater Manchester Police has referred the case to the police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
The IPCC has sent its own investigator to examine the scene.
The dead woman and her niece were back-seat passengers in the Seat Ibiza when it was in collision with the police van at the junction of Green Lane and Cromwell Road, in Patricroft.
Roads around the crash site were closed off and are not expected to be re-opened until shortly before midnight.
Anyone who witnessed the collision is asked to call the Area 4 Road Policing Unit on 0161 856 7761.
and
MEN wrote:
Tribute to police crash woman
21/ 6/2008
THE parents of a Swinton woman who died in a crash with a police van on a 999 call have paid tribute to her.
Angela Elizabeth P, 38, was killed when the Seat Ibiza she was travelling in collided with a police van at about 3.50pm on Friday, June 20.
Her niece and her brother, who was driving the vehicle, were also injured in the collision.
In a joint statement Angela’s parents Gordon and Sylvia paid tribute to their daughter, who is sister to James and Peter.
They said: “She always showed a lot of love and affection and cared for all those who knew her. She will be deeply missed by all her family and especially her niece.”
The accident happened as Angela’s car was turning out of a junction onto Green Lane from Cromwell Road, in Patricroft. The car collided with a police van containing two police officers that was driving along Green Lane.
Angela, of, Swinton, sustained serious injuries. She was taken to Hope Hospital but later died.
D, who suffered bruising but is said to be recovering well, and her father, who suffered minor injuries to his arm and chest, remain in hospital.
The two police officers also suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospital as a precaution.
The driver of the vehicle has been suspended from driving duties pending further inquiries, which is standard procedure in road traffic collisions involving police vehicles, but has not been suspended from duty.
The matter has also been voluntarily referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. IPCC investigators have been deployed and are looking into the incident but the full extent of the IPCC involvement will be determined over the next few days.
Police are appealing to anyone who witnessed the collision to call the Area 4 Road Policing Unit on 0161 856 7797.
HOWEVER ... these versions on the MEN's website are NOT as the one which headlined the paper today. The piece which went to press included comments from nearby residents who say
Quote:
1. The police van was on full blues and twos before and at the time of this accident.
2. They heard a loud bang. The fire service (station at end of this road) arrived within seconds and cut the injured free.
The firemen were heard to shout .. "We'd better get them out quick!"
3. The local resident also says that the driver was OK .. conscious. "The child was lifted out and put on a stretcher. They were clearly worried about the woman passenger. There were a couple of police women there. They were from the police van. They seemed to be OK. "
4. Another local resident said.. "It was bad. The car was an absolute mess. The road is a nightmare here. You CANNOT see around the bend on Green Lane
I hear from the in-laws that the bend in question is a sharp one. If you are pulling out on a right hand turn - the driver, biker and cyclist cannot see approaching cars that easily. Many inch forwards to get a clearer view. I do not quite understand how the driver did not hear the sirens though before pulling out.
Photo in the paper shows damage to the front across to the offside wing of the police van and the crumpled rear off-side of the Seat . This suggests that the police were heading along the "straight" towards the A57and this bend. Maybe the driver was concentrating more on the blind bend ...and perhaps did not take that crucial final check in the other direction to note a van "on a shout" closing in on him?
My sisters say it's some time since they last used that road .. but they seem to think that traffic lights were placed at this junction in recent past because many use Cromwell Road to beat the jam on the A57 down to the M60/Trafford Centre... .
Condolences to all involved all the same.
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