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

Family members of the two boys killed in Cardiff while riding an electric bike have revealed what sparked the riot that followed the teenagers’ deaths.

Following the vigil for Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15, attended by a thousand in Ely on Friday night, the younger boy’s aunt and grandmother spoke of the community’s anger at the lack of answers following the revelation of footage of “police chasing” the teenagers on Monday evening, shortly before they died.

CCTV footage of a marked South Wales Police van following the teenagers as they rode a Sur-Ron electric bike quickly spread on social media after the incident, leading to violent clashes and disorder in Ely.

Harvey’s aunt Hayley Murphy and grandmother Dawn Rees have now revealed to the BBC: “We were stood at the barrier and we were begging them, begging them, to tell us if they were alive or dead, and they wouldn’t tell us nothing – and then someone ran into the crowd and said ‘I’ve got a video of the police chasing them’, and that is what started it.

“That’s what got everyone angry, so I understand because we wasn’t getting no answers.”

The police watchdog has announced it will send investigators to assess whether it will carry out an independent probe into a crash in Cardiff which killed two teenagers and sparked a riot.

Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15, were killed in the Ely area on Monday while riding an electric bike.

Chief Superintendent of South Wales Police Martyn Stone told a press conference in Cardiff on Tuesday that a “mandatory referral” had been made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) following the disorder to “ensure the matter receives independent scrutiny”.

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

Police faced what they called a “large scale disorder” after receiving reports of a collision on Snowden Rd in Ely around 6pm, 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.

“And that appears to have sparked, for reasons that aren’t clear, the disorder… in which something like a dozen officers were injured.

“Fortunately, none of them life-threatening, and the connection between the two is far from clear.”

South Wales Police confirmed on Tuesday that it has received CCTV footage that shows a police van following a bike ahead of a fatal collision that killed the two teenagers.

Earlier Mr Michael had denied a police chase.

“It would appear that there were rumours, and those rumours became rife, of a police chase, which wasn’t the case and I think it illustrates the speed with which rumours can run around with the activity that goes on social media nowadays, and that events can get out of hand,” he said on BBC Radio 4.

South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Alun Michael declined to comment on footage in which a police van can be seen following two people on either a moped or electric bike, apparently minutes before the crash.

He said to the BBC on Tuesday: “You should examine the carefully-worded statement from the chief superintendent.”

Earlier Mr Michael had denied a police chase.

“It would appear that there were rumours, and those rumours became rife, of a police chase, which wasn’t the case and I think it illustrates the speed with which rumours can run around with the activity that goes on social media nowadays, and that events can get out of hand,” he said on BBC Radio 4.

A disabled woman has said she is now “trapped” after rioters torched her car during violent clashes in Cardiff overnight.

Trouble started on Monday evening after a serious crash on Snowdon Road in the Ely area in which two teenagers died.

Clashes continued into the early hours of Tuesday morning, with people throwing fireworks and other missiles at riot police.

CCTV footage shows a police van following an electric bike minutes before a fatal crash which sparked a night of riots in Cardiff, Wales.

The footage, obtained by Wales News, shows the bike being followed by the vehicle on Frank Road, Ely, less than a mile from the collision site.

Watch:

The mother of one of the teenagers whose deaths in a road accident sparked a riot begged for a stop to the 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.

At around midnight Belinda Sullivan, Kyrees’s mother, pleaded with the rioters to stop because her son’s body remained at the scene of the collision.

Writing on Facebook, she said: “My son is still laying on the floor due to this riot.

“I’m sat at home heart broken.

“There are two families broken right now I just want to see my son and I can’t because of this riot that has happened.

“Please I beg you all to stop and let my son be moved to hospital so I can see him we need to see our sons.”

The police watchdog has announced it will send investigators to assess whether it will carry out an independent probe into a crash in Cardiff which killed two teenagers and sparked a riot.

Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15, were killed in the Ely area on Monday while riding an electric bike.

Chief Superintendent of South Wales Police Martyn Stone told a press conference in Cardiff on Tuesday that a “mandatory referral” had been made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) following the disorder to “ensure the matter receives independent scrutiny”.

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The police commissioner has insisted that two teenagers killed in a fatal car crash in Ely were not being chased by the police.

South Wales Police confirmed on Tuesday that it has received CCTV footage that shows a police van following a bike ahead of a fatal collision that killed two teenagers in Cardiff and sparked a riot.

However, in comments to Radio Wales Breakfast this morning, the South Wales’ police and crime commissionerAlun Michael said: “I was assured, and I am still assured, that the youths were not being chased by the police at the time of the road traffic accident.”