Nine men and three women aged between 19 and 61 have been arrested by police probing a crash on the A66 which killed seven people, including two police officers.Â
PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, died early on Saturday when a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way near Middlesbrough crashed head-on into their police car.Â
Some of those arrested over the investigation are suspected of ‘participating in the activities of an organised crime group’, Cleveland Police said, adding that four of those killed in the car which hit the police vehicle had previous convictions. Other alleged offences include possession of a firearm.Â
The young men in the VW, which had been chased by other officers, were named as Michael Robert Cahill, 23; Jacob Matusiak, 23; Makai Saddington, 18; Theo Rae, 17; Cole Robert Worthy, 17.
Yesterday the Daily Mail revealed Saddington’s TikTok featured a string of videos appearing to show him in high-speed police chases.
One clip filmed in May and set to rap music showed the 18-year-old being driven in an Audi speeding through a housing estate with the blue lights of a police car in pursuit flashing.
Another video on an account linked to him showed a green Nissan being driven around before it is set alight, while images posted elsewhere show him and a friend posing in cars wearing black balaclavas.
And this morning it was reported Saddington was awaiting trial on charges of racially abusing and assaulting police officers.
PC Matthew Blades, a father-of-two, was killed after his police car was hit head-on by a Volkswagen Passat driving the wrong way down the A66 near Middlesbrough
PC Tom Clough also died in the crash, which happened 10 seconds after a police pursuit of the Volkswagen was called off
A video from Matusiak’s TikTok profile also appeared to show him driving recklessly with the caption: ‘Unfortunately I’m not a nonchalant boyfriend.’
Filmed by the driver, it showed a car barrelling through a neighbourhood before swerving onto a green in the middle of an estate.
In broad daylight, the vehicle appeared to career down a footpath as the driver casually spun the wheel with one hand.
On Saturday night the pair had been fleeing from police with the three other men when they drove the wrong way down the A66 and smashed into the officers, who were not involved in the chase.
The police pursuit had been called off around ten seconds before the crash.
Their deadly antics have been linked to a TikTok trend where joyriders film themselves driving dangerously to provoke police into chasing them for views.
The Middlesbrough crash came less than a week after a crash in Co. Kildare, Ireland, when five teenagers died in a head-on crash while driving the wrong way down the M9.
Makai Saddington, one of the five killed in the Volkswagen, posted videos on TikTok of him being chased by police and was awaiting trial for racially abusing and assaulting officers
Jacob Matusiak, another occupant of the car which hit the officers, also posted videos of himself driving recklessly
Close friends Theo Rae (left) and Cole Robert Worthy both died in the crash on Saturday
Michael Robert Cahill was praised by those who knew him as a ‘lovely, down to earth lad’
A family in the other car – three women and a seven-year-old boy – were left seriously injured after the crash, when it is understood they were travelling to the airport to begin a holiday.
Speaking in Kyiv today, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the Government had urged TikTok and other platforms to remove videos which glorify dangerous driving.
Mr Burnham said those who share such videos are ‘doing something that’s truly reprehensible’.
A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘The glorification of dangerous driving for clips and entertainment is utterly disgraceful and that is why we have raised the issue of this appalling content with social media companies since the tragedy.’
