Penge crash: Witnesses tell of horror after mother killed and baby critical in collision between pram and car

Police investigate the scene in Penge after a woman was killed and baby sustained serious injuries after being hit by a car
Nigel Howard / Evening Standard

A baby boy was critically ill in hospital today after his mother was hit by a car and killed while pushing him in a pram.

The boy, aged eight months, was said to be fighting for his life after the “horrendous” crash in Anerley last night.

A witness told how the mother, a woman in her twenties, was hurled “20 feet” into the air when she was struck by a blue Ford Mondeo while crossing Croydon Road.

Medics battled to save her but she was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 8pm.

Joe Ball, a 30-year-old electrician, said he heard a crash and saw the woman land on her head after she was thrown into the air.

The crash happened in Penge, south-east London
Nigel Howard / Evening Standard

He told the Standard: “I have never seen anything like it in my life. I knew she was dead when I called the ambulance, I just couldn’t look. All I can think about is hearing the car hit her. I have never heard a bang like it.”

He added: “It all happened so quickly. In that split second I saw her up in the air.”

The mother was walking with her partner at the time of the crash, said Mr Ball, adding: “I heard her boyfriend say, ‘My girlfriend is dead’. It was just horrendous to see something like that.”

A grandmother, who rushed to the child’s aid, said: “The baby was in the middle of the road in the pram. I went straight to the baby.

“Another lady came over and gave me her big scarf to put over the baby. I was on the phone to the paramedic. I didn’t want to move it out of the pram. The front wheel of the pram had come off and was on the other side of the road.”

Another witness, Nadine Ferron, who works in a local takeaway, said: “I saw lots of ambulances and police, so I came out on to the decking in front of the shop. They were trying to revive a woman who was lying in the road and there was a buggy in the middle of the road too.”

Police said the driver stopped at the scene and was taken to hospital.

In a separate incident, police named a man they are hunting after a 24-year-old woman was killed in a hit-and-run in Brixton.

Aaron Blackwood Jones, also known as Aaron Blackwood, 27, is wanted after a blue VW Golf hit the woman in Brixton Hill early on Saturday.

Police and medics were called to the junction with New Park Road at about 12.30am but the woman was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver did not stop. Last night officers recovered a car in Brixton that they believe was involved in the crash.

Anyone with information should call 101 and quote CAD 183/12Jan. Anyone seeing Mr Jones was urged to dial 999.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT