A woman is fighting for her life after a car mounted the pavement and crashed into outdoor seating on one of Islington’s busiest streets.
A car ploughed into the Mediterranean restaurant Pera Schnitzel Garden on Upper Street just before 8am on Thursday during a three-vehicle collision, the emergency services said.
An employee at Gilmartins, a London-based maintenance company, and his son witnessed the crash from a nearby van and described spotting the alleged driver fleeing the scene.
He told his son to stop the possible driver, and the pair pinned him down until the police arrived.
The father, who did not want to be named, told the Metro: “My son got to him and started hitting him but it wasn’t doing anything.
“Then he hit my son in the face and I pinned him down. It felt like forever for the police to come.
“Everyone was standing there and watching.”
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A store manager at Superette, near where the crash happened, told the Standard it had appeared “like there was a fight at first” following the collision.
He described seeing “people screaming and running away” after hearing the collision.
Officers, ambulance crews and firefighters rushed to the scene near Islington Town Hall where four people were treated.
Two cars collided during the crash, while a third car crashed into the nearby building and hit a pedestrian, the London Fire Brigade said.
The emergency crews rushed two of the injured to a major trauma centre, while the other two were taken to hospital.
This included a driver, a man in his 20s, who was arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Meanwhile, the driver of the other car, a man, and a female passenger in her 40s who is in critical condition, were also taken to hospital.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "We were called at 7.57am this morning (Thursday 10 April) to reports of a road traffic collision in Upper Street, Islington.
"We sent a number of resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, a paramedic in a fast response car, an incident response officer and London’s Air Ambulance.
"The first of our crews arrived in one minute.
"Our crews treated four patients at the scene, before taking two to a London major trauma centre and two to hospital."
Pera Schnitzel Garden explained it was closed following the crash but expected to reopen on Friday.
The restaurant wrote on its Instagram story: “There was an accident right in front of our shop today, and unfortunately, we’ve learned that there were some injuries. We’re sending our heartfelt wishes for a speedy recovery to everyone involved.”
