A pair of grieving families in the UK have urged police to release new video showing the moment two young men lost their lives in an alleged impaired driving accident earlier this year.
Driver Kyle Careford, 20, and his friend Michael Owen, 21, were driving through Crowborough, England in the early morning hours of April 12 when their red Renault Clio slammed into the side of a church and overturned, killing them both.
Now new footage released by Sussex Police on behalf of the parents takes us inside the car at the very moment of their fatal accident.
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Shot by Owen, the video shows the two teens driving in excess of 140 km/h through the Sussex countryside. According to a press release from the Sussex Police, the two were on a “cocktail” of prescription and illegal drugs that would have resulted in “severe toxicity.”
Adding to the multitude of factors which led to the crash, police said the driver, Careford, did not have his driver’s license and was insured on the car, which was owned by Owen.
According to police, the car lost control shortly after passing through Rotherfield and went off the B2100, smashing into the side of St. Michael and All Saints church.
The parents of both men hope that by releasing this video, they may be able to prevent a similar tragedy from befalling another family.
“I really don’t know why the boys chose to do what they did, but I blame them both for the decisions they made on this night,” Michael Owen’s mother Kat Owens said following an inquest into the deaths in Hastings earlier this week.
“If all this stops one person from making the same mistake, then some good has come from showing this video. I’m hoping it will have an impact on young people and make them see that a bit of fun can have such devastating consequences.”
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Further compounding the tragedy is the fact that Owen left behind a young daughter, who was five-years-old at the time of the accident.
“This footage or anything of its kind should never be recorded, let alone watched,” said Zac Hemming, Kyle’s brother. “However, despite the pain of it being broadcast by the media, we as a family just hope and pray that this will connect with at least one person out there, young or old, so that no one ever has to experience the unthinkable pain of losing someone so close and dearly loved.”
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