BOY,14,DIES IN POLICE CHASE; Stolen car's lorry crash horror.

Byline: EMMA PINCH

THE Police Complaints Authority last night launched investigations after three people - including a 14-year-old boy - died in two car crashes as they were followed by police in the Midlands.

Teenager John Smith, of Clare Road, Malvern, Worcestershire, died after a stolen car he was driving collided with a lorry in Abbey Road Bridge, Evesham.

He failed to stop for a police patrol on the A44 Worcester to Evesham Road, and was being followed by a marked police car when the crash happened at about 8am, said a West Mercia Police spokesman.

Tragic

A passenger in the H-registration car, a youth thought to be aged 15, suffered serious injuries and was airlifted to Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham.

West Mercia deputy chief constable Peter Neyroud said: 'Any road death is a matter of concern but, in view of the ages of those involved, this incident is particularly tragic.

'My thoughts and sympathies are with their families at this time.'

A spokesman for the West Midlands Air Ambulance said the young driver had been certified dead at the scene.

'We landed in a nearby field at 8.08am. The driver was clearly already dead and the roof had been cut off the car so the trapped passenger could be removed,' he said.

'He was unconscious and had suffered serious head injuries and had multiple fractures. Within five minutes we set off for Selly Oak Hospital.'

Yesterday, officers from West Mercia Police accident investigation unit sealed off the A44 Pershore Road and examined debris and the wreckage of the stolen car.

An eyewitness told of the deafening crash which had woken residents early yesterday morning.

'There was a massive bang and I went to my window,' said Sylvia Kimberley, 78. 'I remember thinking that it was so loud it didn't sound like a car, so it must have been going ever so fast.

'Fire crew and police arrived almost immediately and then the air ambulance landed in the field opposite. They cut the roof off to lift the passenger out.

'He was definitely alive because I saw his hand move. They didn't bother much with the driver because he was obviously dead.

'The driver of the lorry didn't seem hurt because he was walking round. He didn't look very old and I heard someone say he had gone into shock.

'I feel very sorry for him and the boy that died. He'd stolen a car but he was somebody's child. It is very sad.'

Earlier, Andrew Smith and Tom Gardiner, both in their 20s, died when their Ford Escort Cabriolet smashed into a lamppost on a bridge in Bristol Road, Gloucester.

Gloucestershire Police said two uniformed officers in an unmarked police car pursued the men when they failed to stop in nearby Park Road just after midnight.

A spokeswoman said the police car had standard pursuit equipment and was using its lights and siren. Ambulance and fire crews were called out but the men were pronounced dead at the scene.

Both police forces referred the crashes to the independent PCA, which pledged to carry out full investigations.

CAPTION(S):

SADDENED...Sylvia Kimberley MANGLED... car wreckage where a teenage driver died at Evesham