'Traumatised' Liverpool crash victim feels lucky to be alive after being injured during parade
Jack Trotter and his partner Abbie Gallagher, who are from County Down in Northern Ireland, were walking up Water Street in Liverpool city centre when a car injured at least 79 people - seven of whom remain in hospital.
Mr Trotter was filming the aftermath of the parade on his phone when a car drove in the opposite direction to pedestrians on Monday at around 6pm.
He told ITV News that he initially thought the oncoming car was an ambulance.
'I tried to manoeuvre out of the way but he just tried to mow past me and then he clipped me,' he said.
'As soon as the adrenaline wore off, I got to Abbie and instantly fell to the floor. Instantly, I was in an immense amount of pain.'
His girlfriend narrowly avoided the car, saying she pushed herself off the bonnet, but witnessed the horror unfold around her.
She said: 'I saw was people getting knocked over and people in the air and you just think to yourself, 'What is going on?'.
"I just remember when I got to Jack I was screaming, 'Who does that? Who does that?' - that's kind of stuck with me.'
'I just feel traumatised,' she added. 'You wake up and all you want to do is just cry.
"I got lucky I didn't get hit, I saved myself from being hit, and even that thought that so many people are injured - you just want to cry for them too.'
Following the incident, Mr Trotter was among the wounded moved into a neighbouring restaurant for medical treatment before he spent 11 hours in hospital.
He says he remains in 'immense pain' and has been undergoing scans to find out the extent of the damage to his lower back, which bore the brunt of the impact.
The couple say he is struggling to walk and is still unable to shower or even brush his own teeth.
'Obviously we are glad that we are still here but obviously we are thinking about everyone else as well,' Mr Trotter said.
'Everyone knows the car shouldn't have been there. There was no way the car should have been there with all those people.'
A 53-year-old man, from West Derby, Liverpool is in custody on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving and drug driving.
Merseyside Police believe the car which struck pedestrians was able to get into the restricted area after tailgating an ambulance crew attending to someone suffering a heart attack after a road block was temporarily lifted.
The force, which was granted more time to question him on Wednesday afternoon, is continuing to appeal for witnesses to come forward.
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