A grisly detail captured in sickening CCTV footage could lead police to a driver who is believed to have fled the scene of a crash which killed two teenage boys.
Best mates Braydan Collier, 13, and Kaine Bell, 14, were travelling in a grey Ford Falcon sedan which smashed into a tree and a power pole around 10.50am on Maxwell Avenue, Ashcroft, on Monday.
The impact was so forceful it ripped the vehicle in two. Emergency services found the boys’ bodies strewn across the lawn of a suburban property, about five metres from where the main body of the car came to rest.
Police launched an urgent manhunt for two men, the driver and the front-seat passenger, after CCTV captured them fleeing the scene.
Nicholas Thew, 28, and Anthony Morris both allegedly remain on the run on Tuesday morning.
Thew is understood to have been on parole at the time of the crash – having served nine months in jail for domestic violence offences before he was released in July.
A key detail from CCTV footage in the aftermath of the crash could lead police to the 28-year-old man’s whereabouts.
Best mates Braydan Collier, 13, and Kaine Bell, 14, were travelling in a grey Ford Falcon sedan which smashed into a tree and a power pole around 10.50am on Maxwell Avenue, Ashcroft, on Monday (pictured)
The force of the impact was so severe it tore the car in two – and flung the bodies of the victims across the lawn (pictured)
A freeze-frame image appears to show that Thew mangled the index finger on the his right hand.
The injury, which will require urgent medical attention if he is to save the finger, is too gruesome to publish.
NSW Police refused to comment on the development.
‘Police have extensive resources today in relation to the ongoing operation,’ a spokesperson said.
Braydan had just celebrated his 13th birthday the day before his life was abruptly cut short on the front lawn of a stranger’s house.
The lifeless body of his best mate laid a few metres away.
Meanwhile, Thew’s heartbroken family have broken their silence about the tragedy and have revealed the pair were regarded as surrogate big brothers to both Braydan and Kaine.
A freeze-frame image appears to show that driver Nicholas Thew mangled the index finger on his right hand – a gruesome injury that will require urgent medical attention
On Monday night, footage emerged of the moment Thew dumped one of the boys’ bodies on the ground before fleeing the scene.
One of the men could be heard yelling to the other: ‘I wanna go home’ as they ran from the crash, leaving the teens behind lying lifeless on the ground, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The sickening vision shows the driver, moments after the crash, pull himself form the wreckage before he walks past the body of one child lying on the ground.
He then pulls a second boy from the tail wreckage before pushing him to the ground.
The driver then runs back to free a young adult from the front seat before checking on the boy who was thrown from the car.
He briefly places his hands on his head before before fleeing the scene. Only then is his injury visible.
A boy on a dirt bike also inspected the scene before driving off.
It comes as Thew’s younger brother Dridyn revealed how the family had taken the teens under their wing.
Braydan Collier had just celebrated his 13th birthday before his life was cut short on Monday
Kaine Bell, 14, was also killed in Monday’s horror crash in Sydney’s south-west
‘Mum’s more worried about the two little boys, she tried to take them under her wing, she took Kaine and Braydan under her wing even though she struggles herself … and now, we can’t do nothing,’ Dridyn told the Daily Telegraph on Monday night.
‘They’re little ones I took under my wing to keep out of trouble, but I haven’t seen them for two days and look where they are now.’
Another brother was the one who identified the bodies of the teens.
A local resident, who asked to remain anonymous, told Daily Mail Australia they saw the car driving erratically in the moments leading up to the crash, with the front passenger acting wildly.
‘About 10 minutes before the crash happened, my family was walking down Busby Road (around 2km away from the crash site) and we saw him waving out the windows and screaming and acting stupid in the passenger seat,’ she said.
‘They were (allegedly) speeding, doing skids and handbrake turns.’
Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden, Traffic and Highway Patrol Commander, said police believe the grey Ford sedan was travelling north on Maxwell Avenue at least 50 kilometres per hour above the speed limit on the quiet residential street.
He blamed the crash on a ‘direct result of speeding’ and urged the driver and front-seat passenger to come forward, adding: ‘We will find them’.
Thew is seen fleeing the scene moments later
A boy on a dirt bike also reportedly inspected the scene before driving off
Police have launched a manhunt after witnesses revealed two people had fled the scene
‘They just need to present themselves to a police station, so we can engage with them and they can assist us with the inquiries and work out how this tragic situation unfolded,’ he said.
‘But ultimately, in one of these situations, the driver is ultimately responsible for themselves, the passengers and the others on the road.’
Assistant Commissioner McFadden said that witnesses would have been traumatised by the scene.
‘The absolute destruction that has taken place… and the loss of two young lives, being ejected from that vehicle,’ Mr McFadden told reporters.
‘Anyone who would have witnessed that crash would have no doubt been traumatised by it.’
‘The car is in two pieces – one part is still wrapped around the tree and the other half on the doorstep of the house,’ Helen El-cheikh said on Facebook.
Assistant Commissioner McFadden said police did not believe the car was stolen.
‘We believe the vehicle has some connection to the people inside the car,’ he said.
Helicopter crews and the dog squad are searching for the two boys who fled.
Anyone with information into the incident or dashcam footage is urged to call police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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