Five more people have been arrested by detectives investigating a crash that killed seven people, including two police officers.
PC Matthew Blades, ۳۷, and PC Tom Clough, ۳۸, were killed on Saturday when a Volkswagen Passat, which had been pursued by police, was driven the wrong way down the A۶۶ near Middlesbrough and hit their marked armed response vehicle.
All five occupants of the pursued car – Cole Robert Worthy, ۱۷; Theo Rae, ۱۷; Makai Saddington, ۱۸; Michael Robert Cahill, ۲۳; and Jacob Matusiak, ۲۳ – were declared dead at the scene.
Police have said the group had links to “serious and organised criminal activity” and that four of the five had a total of ۳۷ previous convictions for offences such as possession of a bladed article, car theft, possession of drugs, racially aggravated intentional harassment, and numerous driving offences.
The crash has led to greater scrutiny on an emerging trend of young people posting videos online of cars they are in being driven dangerously. One senior figure in the Police Federation of England and Wales said young people were “baiting police officers” with reckless driving.
Paul Williams, the federation’s acting deputy national chair, told BBC Breakfast that reckless driving young people had become a “real problem” for responding officers.
“Every day we can identify now numerous examples of young people sensationalising dangerous driving. Not just dangerous driving, but baiting police officers who are out there to protect the public,” said Williams.
He added: “It’s a real problem. It’s causing officers concern. They shouldn’t have to be going out and worrying about whether they’re going to return home from their shift or not. But on top of that, wondering if they’re going to be plastered all over social media. It’s absolutely unacceptable and social media platforms need to take some action.”
The five arrests on Tuesday came a day after Cleveland police announced ۱۲ people, nine men and three women, had been arrested after officers said they received several reports of two vehicles, the VW Passat and a Volvo XC۶۰, being driving dangerously at the time.
Of those ۱۲, four were arrested on suspicion of participating in an organised crime group and four on suspicion of possessing a firearm, while four of the suspects were also accused of possessing class A and B drugs with intent to supply.
Two of the ۱۲ people previously arrested have now appeared in court. Kai Beattie, ۱۹, appeared at Teesside magistrates court charged with possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. Cameron George, ۲۶, was remanded in custody to appear at Teesside crown court on ۲۱ September charged with drugs offences and possession of criminal property.
The five arrested on Tuesday were a boy aged ۱۶, an ۱۸-year-old and a man of ۲۱, all on suspicion of participating in an organised crime group; a ۵۵-year-old on suspicion of assisting an offender and a ۲۳-year-old on suspicion of making threats to kill.
Road safety statistics up to ۲۰۲۵ also show a trend in dangerous driving for young people, particularly young men, being on the rise, with ۷۷ people aged between ۱۶ and ۲۰ dying last year, compared with ۶۵ the year before and ۵۵ in ۲۰۱۶, the largest rise of any age group.
The government has acknowledged the need to challenge social media companies that platform videos which encourage dangerous driving among people, with a Downing Street spokesperson saying on Monday that No ۱۰ would give the regulator Ofcom its “full backing to take tough action” on any sites and apps that do not moderate or remove such content.
The crash in Middlesbrough is one of several incidents involving people being killed or hospitalised due to a car trying to evade police that have occurred in the past fortnight across the UK, with a similar accident taking place in England on Tuesday, when a crash after a police pursuit in Warwickshire led to a man dying and a woman being hospitalised.
In Ireland last week, another similar incident resulted in four people, including a seven-year-old boy, being hospitalised when a car containing five teenagers drove into them on the M۹ in County Kildare to evade Garda. All five teenagers were killed.
A fundraiser set up by Cleveland police federation for Blades’ and Clough’s families has exceeded £۷۵۰,۰۰۰ in donations.
