Witnesses have said the woman was crossing the road when she was hit by a police car in Lambeth, south-west London
A young woman has been killed after she was hit by a marked police car responding to a 999 emergency call, witnesses say two officers “instantly” jumped out to try to save her.
Witnesses have said that the 25-year-old pedestrian was crossing the road when she was hit and thrown into the air by the car at around 11.20pm on Wednesday.
When the police car came to a halt, two officers jumped out and tried to save the young woman, a witness told the Mirror.
Paramedics soon arrived at the scene and attempted to resuscitate her before she was pronounced dead in Lambeth, south-west London.
This comes after the police officer that was poisoned in the Salisbury novichok attack and has since lodged papers in the high court suing Wiltshire police over the trauma that he continues to suffer three years following being exposed to the novichok nerve agent.
The Metropolitan Police have said that the incident had been referred to the Directorate of Professional Standards and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which will now carrying out an independent investigation.
Witness David Chitidze, 25, said he was smoking on the balcony of his fourth-floor flat when he noticed a police car that was approaching with both its lights and sirens activated.
The woman was crossing the road about 20 yards from a traffic light, he added.
He told the Mirror: “The police vehicle was heading towards Brixton with sirens on and travelling at a very high speed, no traffic.
“There is a small bend around the corner and I saw the girl starting to cross and my heart dropped.
“She froze on the spot as the police car completely took her out and sent her flying.
“Both the driver and passenger – policemen – instantly got out and began reviving her. She was unresponsive on the floor.”
David added: “They were trying to bring her back, many neighbours called the ambulance straight away. It was heartbreaking.”
He said more police vehicles soon arrived, followed by an ambulance.
David added: “Once the paramedics arrived they carried on trying to bring her back.”
Cameron, aged 20, who lives near to where the incident took place, told the Daily Mirror that he had just returned home as the paramedics tried to resuscitate the young woman in the road, which was being blocked tot eh public by both police cars and an ambulance.
A police car with its windscreen “smashed” was at the scene of the incident, he said
Cameron said: “You could feel how tense everyone was and the road was dead silent. It was especially upsetting knowing she was a young woman hit by a police car of all things.”
This comes after paramedics and ambulance crews in the UK are to be given body-worn cameras after thousands of attacks against staff were reported last year. Trials showed the devices reduced violence against paramedics, who also felt safer if they had something to record with.
When he came back outside of his home minutes later, the woman’s body had been covered up, and the ambulance left without turining its siren on.
The man said that he spoke to witnesses at the scene, who told him that the 25-year-old woman was in the road when she was hit by the police car and thrown into the air.
A spokesperson for the Met Police said in a statement: “Officers were called at approximately 11.20pm on Wednesday 9 June to Stockwell Road, SW9 to a collision involving a marked police vehicle on an emergency call and a female pedestrian.
“A 25-year-old woman was treated by paramedics from the London Ambulance Service, and London’s Air Ambulance.”
