4 months ago
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A pram-pushing mother and her toddler daughter are 'lucky to be alive' after they narrowly escaped being mowed down by a 'speeding' car which crashed and flipped onto the pavement, a man who rushed to the rescue said.
Restaurant manager Liri Kingji, 33, also helped free the woman driver from the wreckage after she lost control of her vehicle and smashed into a lamppost in Olton near Solihull, West Midlands, at around 4pm on Saturday.
Mr Kingji said: 'Both of the women and the little girl are totally lucky to be alive. If the car hadn't hit the lamp post it would have ploughed onto the mother pushing her pram.
'She was walking with her pram straight into the path of the vehicle which looked as it had been speeding. They could have been killed. It's a miracle they all escaped with minor injuries but they were very shaken up.'
Footage of the crash shows the terrifying moment the car veers off the side of the road, with the mother bracing for impact and trying to turn the pram out of the way.
The vehicle smashes into a lamppost and flips on to its side, narrowly missing the 33-year-old mother and her child - but crushing the pram, a witness has now revealed.
One employee at a local shop, who didn't want to be named, said: 'The pram ended up under the vehicle. We've never seen anything like this happen on the road.
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Video shows the mother pushing her child in a pram when the car veers off the side of the road
Out of nowhere, a car starts hurtling towards them on the pavement before it flips on its side
Restaurant manager Liri Kingji (pictured), 33, also helped free the woman driver from the wreckage after she lost control of her vehicle and smashed into a lamppost in Olton near Solihull, West Midlands, at around 4pm on Saturday
'We were in the back, we didn't even see it. A customer came in and said "did you see what happened?"'
Mr Kingji told how the mum, who has not been named, was hysterical and kept screaming 'my baby, my baby, this is a bad dream.'
While members of his staff at the Italian restaurant and pizzeria L'Aragosta helped calm her down, he and a worker from a next door shop raced to help the trapped driver.
The motorist, in her 40s, had been travelling alone in her black Peugeot when she suddenly lost control whilst driving past a McDonald's next to a Texaco garage.
Mr Kingji, speaking exclusively to MailOnline today, told how he had to free the woman by pulling her out of her boot because the car had flipped over with her door facing the ground.
The shop worker said one of the employees also helped the driver, whose 'face was bleeding'. 'She was confused and she had to come out of the boot,' they added.
Describing the dramatic moments of rescuing the driver, Mr Kingji said: 'The car was on its side and she was trapped inside and couldn't open her door.
'Me and another guy from the next door shop had to get her out though the boot. She had her seat belt on and both airbags were completely open.
After crashing into the lamppost, the car flipped over right in front of the mother and her toddler daughter
As the mother braces for impact, turning away from the car, it smashes into a nearby lamppost
'She was in a state of shock, screaming and crying. She didn't say anything just that she had lost control. We got her out of the car and paramedics arriving at the scene checked her over. She appeared to have a head injury.'
Mr Kingji, who only arrived in the UK from Venice two weeks ago to help run a family restaurant, said: 'What a drama! It could have been so much worse. My colleagues had called police and ambulance and they arrived very quickly.'
He told how the pushchair had been overturned but the two-year-old girl inside was unscathed.
He continued: 'I didn't know how many children there and if others maybe trapped were and I was asking her "How many kids?" and she was hysterical but replied "Just one". We sat her down in the restaurant and gave her a drink and calmed her down.'
Mr Kingji believes the car which had veered across the road and crashed outside his restaurant had been speeding in the 30mph limit road.
He said: 'It looked as if it was going very fast about 50-60 mph when the driver lost control. I don't know what caused it and if she had a black out but she definitely didn't seem to have been a drink driver.
'It was a terrible thing to happen but I am glad I could be of help and most importantly that no one was seriously injured.
'It happened after the very busy lunch service and while we were closed and getting ready for the evening service. I was sitting at the table in the window doing some paperwork and I saw it happen right in front of me.'
Another worker from a nearby business, who also wished to remain anonymous, added: 'I do not know how they were not killed or more seriously hurt.
'The girl injured her leg and the mum was traumatised as you can imagine. She must have acted on mother's instinct.
General view of Warwick Road in Olton, Solihull, taken today shows were the car veered into the wrong side of the road and crashed into the now removed lamppost (right)
Miraculously, the mother and her daughter escaped from the crash without serious injuries
'How the pram has ended up under the vehicle without the child in it, when she was pushing her along in it, is a miracle really. They were just a split second from it being a lot worse. The driver is very lucky as well.
'We were told it was a disability transport vehicle. The driver was very shook up too - it could have easily been a fatal.'
Staff from nearby businesses who rushed to the mum and daughter's aid revealed how the pram became trapped under the car while the girl somehow escaped.
They also told how the female driver was ejected out of the boot of the vehicle by the impact but she also suffered 'non-life-threatening injuries'.
West Midlands Ambulance Service sent two ambulances to the scene. The infant and female driver of the car suffered non-life-threatening injuries and both were taken to hospital. The girl's mother was treated at the scene and discharged with non-life-threatening injuries.
An ambulance service spokesman said: 'We were called at 4:11pm on Saturday to a road traffic collision involving a car and two pedestrians on Warwick Road, Solihull. Two ambulances and a paramedic officer attended the scene.
A close-up of the bottom of the lamppost shows where the car bent it sideways
All that's left from the horrifying crash in Olten is a small part of the bent-out-of-shape lamppost pictured above
'Upon arrival, we found a woman and child who were pedestrians and a woman who was the driver of the car. The driver of the car and the child were assessed and had non-life-threatening injuries.
'The driver received treatment from ambulance staff and both were conveyed to Heartlands Hospital for further assessment. A woman who was a pedestrian was assessed and had minor injuries.
'She received treatment from ambulance staff and did not require further treatment and was discharged at the scene.'
A West Midlands Police spokesperson added: 'We attended a collision on Warwick Road, Olton, Solihull, where a car hit a lamppost at a zebra crossing.
'We're investigating after a car rolled over and landed on a pavement next to a woman and a child in Solihull.
'The Peugeot driver, a woman in her 40s, suffered cuts and was spoken to at the scene by officers and is assisting with our enquiries. The woman and the child were left shaken but not physically injured.
'Our investigation continues and we have recovered footage showing the collision. No arrests have yet been made.'
