Cardiff bike crash – latest: Family of teen killed reveal what started riot after ‘police chase’

The relatives of the young victims who died in a fatal car crash on Monday have condemned the police as they claim officers pursued the boys in a car chase.

“My nephew and his best mate are dead because they chased him on a little electric motorbike,” the uncle of killed 16-year-old Kyrees told The Times.

Meanwhile, Harvey’s godmother, Bridy Bool, said the pair had done nothing to trigger a police chase, describing them as “bare-faced innocent children”.

Two teenagers who were killed in a crash while riding an electric bike in Cardiff on Monday night were not being chased by police at the time of the collision, the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales has suggested.

Appearing on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme for a second day in a row, Alun Michael said: “Information emerged after we had done the interview (on Tuesday) which has to be investigated, and the question has to be asked of whether there is a connection between earlier events and the road traffic accident itself.

“We have to look at the facts of what actually happened on Monday. I am assured and I am still assured youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident.

“The road traffic accident is being carefully investigated but there wasn’t a police vehicle in the road where and when the actual accident happened.

“The impression that was given was that of youngsters being chased by the police and an accident happened, an immediate one to the other. That I am still assured is not what happened but information emerged of the vehicle and the youngsters in the same street, a different street, shortly before the event, that of course then comes into something that should be investigated.”

When broadcaster Martha Kearney suggested that this leaves open the possibility of a police chase, he replied: “It leaves open the possibility. I was assured there was not ... police chasing the individuals at the time the accident happened. That there may have been something earlier is of course something that should be fully investigated.”

The mother of one of the teenagers whose deaths in a road accident sparked a riot begged the yobs to stop their violence – as her son’s body lay in the street where he died.

Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and 15-year-old Harvey Evans were killed in the Ely area of Cardiff while riding an electric bike.

Tensions reached breaking point after officers were called to the scene in Snowden Road shortly after 6pm on Monday.

After dismissing rumours two teenage boys killed in the crash that led to the Cardiff riots were being chased by police, the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales has now admitted it is a “possibility”.

Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and 15-year-old Harvey Evans were killed in a collision while riding an electric bike in Ely on Monday evening, sparking a night of violence with cars torched and clashes with riot police.

PCC Alun Michael suggested on Tuesday morning that rumours of a police chase prior to the crash had become “rife” shortly before locals clashed with officers - 15 of whom were injured, according to the force - but said this version of events “wasn’t the case”.

A crash that killed two teenagers appears to have “sparked” the rioting seen in Cardiff on Monday evening, the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales has said.

Police faced what they called “large scale disorder” after receiving reports of a collision on Snowden Road in Ely around 6pm on Monday, with tensions reaching breaking point as cars were set on fire and fireworks were shot at officers.

Alun Michael told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday morning: “My understanding is that there was a road traffic accident involving two teenagers on an off-road bike or scooter and sadly, they died. That’s an incident obviously that is being investigated in its own right.”

The parents of Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15, had been to see them at hospital and had been kept updated by South Wales Police, a family friend said.

“I’m OK in myself, I’m just absolutely devastated and heartbroken for my friends. My heart is hurting,” they said. “That’s the little boy I used to babysit and push around in a pram. It is so, so sad. They both went to see their boys yesterday and they are both very numb and haven’t gone much to say at the moment.”

The friend said the video circulated on social media supported claims a marked police van was following the teenagers in the Ely area of Cardiff.

They believed the boys had got away from the police by riding up Stanwey Road, which is blocked off to traffic at one end, and had then ridden onto the adjacent Snowden Road where the crash occurred.

South Wales Police have said they are investigating claims of a pursuit but said the collision had already happened when the first officers arrived on the scene.

“The reason why the police wasn’t on the scene is because the boys have gone through a blocked street and the police knew they couldn’t go that way so they have turned onto Grand Avenue, which led the boys to cut through onto Stanway Road onto Snowden Road,” they said.

“The police have already stated they were on Grand Avenue and they were not on the scene. They weren’t on the scene because they lost them.”

The Independent Office for Police Conduct will investigate a crash in Ely, Cardiff, on Monday which killed two teenagers, after CCTV footage emerged of a police vehicle following a bike prior to the incident.

The police watchdog will probe “any interaction” between South Wales Police officers and two teenage boys before they were killed in the Ely area of Cardiff while riding an electric bike.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct said in a statement: “Following a referral from South Wales Police we have decided to independently investigate an incident in Ely, Cardiff, on Monday which resulted in the deaths of two teenagers.

“Our decision to investigate follows our attendance at the police post incident procedure and after a review of the information received to date.

“We will be examining any interaction between the police and the boys after CCTV footage emerged apparently showing a police vehicle following a bike prior to the incident.”

Newly-emerged CCTV footage appears to show a police vehicle driving behind an electric bike minutes before a fatal crash which killed two teenagers and sparked a riot in Cardiff.

Two teenage boys – Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15 – were killed while riding an electric bike in Ely on Monday evening, in a crash police said was followed by “large-scale disorder” in which 15 officers were injured, with cars torched and fireworks set off.

South Wales police and crime commissioner Alun Michael suggested on Tuesday morning that rumours of a police chase prior to the crash had become “rife” shortly before locals clashed with officers, but said this version of events “wasn’t the case”.

However, CCTV footage emerged hours later appearing to show a police van driving behind an electric bike on Frank Road in Ely, some 900m from the scene at 5.59pm, minutes before the crash.