“I saw people lying on the ground. It was horrendous. So horrendous.”
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People who witnessed the moment a people carrier crashed into a packed crowd during the Liverpool FC victory parade have spoken about what they saw. The incident happened at around 6pm and saw a huge police presence descend on Dale Street and Water Street. A man has been detained and it is believed multiple people were injured.
Merseyside Police have confirmed a man who has been arrested is a 53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area.
Harry Rashid, 48, from Solihull, was at the parade with his wife and two young daughters when he witnessed the collision.
He said: “It happened about 10 feet away from us. We were just in a crowd and we had no control over where we would be, because it was a very narrow street.
“The vehicle came to our right. It emerged from just right next to an ambulance, which was parked up. This people carrier just pulled up from the right and just rammed into all the people at the side of us.
“It was travelling south, down Water Street, straight towards the Strand."
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Mr Rashid described how crowds began trying to smash the car windows: “Then he stalled for a few seconds, probably about 10 seconds. Then the crowd that was a bit further back started rushing at him trying to smash the windows.
Police close off Water Street.
Police close off Water Street.
“But then the car just ploughed through the rest of them, it just kept going. It was horrible.
“Then my daughter started screaming and there were people on the ground.
“They were just innocent people, just fans going to enjoy the parade. There were hundreds and thousands of us there because this is probably the busiest part of Liverpool.
“We were shocked, we couldn’t believe it.”
Emergency services arrived at the scene “within seconds”, he said.
Police and emergency personnel dealing with an incident on Water Street near the Liver Building in Liverpool after a car collided with pedestrians during the Premier League winners parade. A man has been detained. Picture date: Monday May 26, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story POLICE Liverpool. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire
Police and emergency personnel dealing with an incident on Water Street near the Liver Building in Liverpool after a car collided with pedestrians during the Premier League winners parade. A man has been detained. Picture date: Monday May 26, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story POLICE Liverpool. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire
Mr Rashid said: “Ambulances were already there. There was one right next to where this occurred, so there was a paramedic inside there.
“But then they started arriving within seconds, they’re all trying to get to the crowd and negotiate the crowd, which is very difficult to do, you see, because there’s that many people, they constantly been trying to move."
Police and emergency personnel dealing with an incident near the Liver Building in Liverpool during the Premier League winners parade. Picture date: Monday May 26, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story POLICE Liverpool. Photo credit should read: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire
Police and emergency personnel dealing with an incident near the Liver Building in Liverpool during the Premier League winners parade. Picture date: Monday May 26, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story POLICE Liverpool. Photo credit should read: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire
He added: “I saw people lying on the ground. It was horrendous. So horrendous.”
A member of staff at Riva Blu, an Italian restaurant on Dale Street, who did not wish to be named spoke to the ECHO. She said: "So there was just like, a black car just drove straight through the crowd.
"I was just stood there in shock and people were running in so there was no way to get out. I seemed to be the only person that saw it, at least out of the staff, and people didn't seem to know what was going on for a good bit until loads of police arrived and I thought maybe the road was open and, you know, I didn't actually see people get hurt until after I saw people on the floor.
"It was quite scary. We've just been like giving them water. we've had to like, obviously cordon off the restaurant and yeah, I just had try to help people."
Witness Natasha Rinaldi, who was watching the parade from her friend’s living room, told Sky News: “It was so loud. People sounded desperate. And then we looked out the window and we saw the car (had) run over people.
“Then people started rushing to go after the driver and they tried to break the car. The police did everything to block and to push people away.
“We could just hear screams and screams. We were very confused. Some of my friends were down there and the car was so near them. It was a horrible scene, nobody was expecting it."
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She said “people had stopped the car” and were knocking on the window “and trying to speak to the driver”.
“People were very angry and shocked, and then the police intervened. And then we heard the ambulances coming.”