This is the shocking moment a man out celebrating Christmas Day who was carrying presents stepped out in front of a police car and was killed.
The police car had been responding to an emergency call in Liverpool shortly before 7pm yesterday.
Horrific video footage shows the smartly dressed pedestrian holding a shiny gift bag step out into the road just ahead of a pelican crossing before being mown down.
Tony Carroll, 70, pictured, died after he was struck by a police car on Christmas Day as he walked home from the pub
Tony Carroll, pictured walking along the central reservation, was heading home after spending a few hours at the Throstles Nest Hotel in Liverpool shortly before 7pm on Christmas Day
Mr Carroll stepped out in front of a police car, right, which was heading to an emergency call
Mr Carroll was pronounced dead after he was taken to hospital following yesterday’s incident
Mr Carroll, 70, pictured, had been enjoying a drink at the Throstles Nest Hotel and was believed to have been walking home.Last night friends of Mr Carroll, thought to be a cleaner at the city’s Lime Street station said he had been visiting family and had stopped off to buy a round – but they insisted he was not drunk or unsteady.
His family said in a statement: ‘Tony was a much loved brother and uncle and will be greatly missed by all his family. He was always the life and soul of the party, and he lived life the way he wanted to.
‘As a very close-knit family we spent Christmas Day together and as he left told us all that he had had the best day ever.’
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has launched an investigation into how he was killed.
Witnesses described seeing a clearly distressed police officer sitting in the middle of the road in the aftermath of the crash, holding his head in his hands.
An investigation has now been launched by the police watchdog into how Mr Carroll came to be struck.
CCTV footage seen by the Daily Mail suggests lights on the pedestrian crossing were green in favour of oncoming traffic when he was hit.
Merseyside Police referred the incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct
The road was closed for several hours following Mr Carroll’s death yesterday
The smartly-dressed victim, thought to be aged 70 and a worker on the railways, had been enjoying a festive drink at the Throstles Nest Hotel and is thought to have been walking home.
The footage shows him wearing a suit jacket and carrying what appears to be a shiny red gift bag as he walks along the central reservation of the Scotland Road dual carriageway.
Seconds later he steps into the other carriageway a few feet before a pedestrian crossing but is struck by the patrol car, which appears to have its emergency lights flashing.
An object he was carrying appears to fall to the ground following the horrific impact.
At nearby Scotland Road Newsagents, the owner said: ‘He was a person who came in here every day. He would give my staff cookies every morning.’
A colleague who gave her name as Alex said: ‘I could not say a bad word about him. He was just so friendly.
‘It was so shocking when people said it was him. I just kept thinking he was going to walk through the door.’
Local residents expressed their shock at Mr Carroll’s death in the Christmas Day accident
Staff said Mr Carroll would give them cookies or Marks & Spencer cake when he popped in.
She said: ‘He was always in a suit, he was always pleasant and would always have a chat about anything.
‘Even when he was working nights he was the same.
‘I only saw him on Christmas Eve, he waved to me and said “All the best”.’ Other residents said Mr Carroll had a job with the railways.
One woman said: ‘This whole community is really devastated.’ A witness to the crash said: ‘I was driving back towards the tunnels and was near McDonald’s when I saw a police car hit a pedestrian who was crossing the road.
‘I stopped my car and ran over to see if they were ok.
‘Two police officers were trying to help the man. I offered them a bottle of water in case they needed it but I didn’t want to get in their way.’ He has yet to be formally named by police but his next of kin have been informed. The road reopened yesterday having been kept closed overnight while investigation work took place.
People in Liverpool told of their devastation last night.
‘You never forget the day you lose anyone but Christmas day a day people celebrate, their world has just come to an end,’ Staci Maria Westerside posted on Facebook. ‘Thoughts with the family.’ ‘This is heartbreaking,’ wrote Lorna Warburton. ‘God bless his poor family can’t imagine how they are going to feel.’ And Pauline Buxton said: ‘Condolences to the family of the person killed but also should be thoughts with the police person who was involved in the RTA as they will be traumatised.’ A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: ‘At around 6.50pm, a collision occurred between a police vehicle and a male pedestrian on Scotland Road.
‘Emergency services attended and the pedestrian was taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead.’ The Independent Office for Police Conduct has launched an investigation.
It confirmed that the officers involved were responding to an emergency call, although the nature of the call has not been revealed.