A man has died after an allegedly stolen Audi S8 struck him and smashed into the back garden of a house before the driver fled the scene on foot.
Emergency services scrambled to the scene of the smash in Netherton, Merseyside, shortly after 9pm last night.
They were responding to reports a dark coloured Audi had crashed into a house.
As police, fire service and ambulance crews arrived at the scene they found a man, in his 60s, had also been struck by a car.
He was pronounced dead at the scene after neighbours said the car crashed into the back garden of a property.
There are now concerns the house might not be structurally safe after the Audi, suspected to have been stolen during a previous burglary, smashed into it.
A structural assessor will decide if the property is structurally sound and safe, the police said.
On Friday a police cordon was in place in the surrounding area and a house in Morgan Mews was taped off, with a white tent visible in the back garden.
Merseyside police previously reported that the car involved was a dark coloured BMW. However they later confirmed that it was an Audi S8.
One woman, who did not want to be named, said: “I’ve just woken up to all this. I looked out of the window and saw a car in the neighbour’s garden.
“I think it’s gone through the railings and through their wall. There’s a blue tarpaulin over it now.
“It’s scary. We were out in the garden with the kids until about 7pm yesterday and I just feel lucky we weren’t out there when it happened.
“It’s heartbreaking.”
Another neighbour said: “I was watching television about 9pm and I just saw the blue lights.
“I looked out of the window and it was swarming with police.
“The poor fella who has died, he was probably just going for a pint.”
A resident on nearby The Marian Way, to where the police cordon extended, said: “I did hear a big bang last night but I didn’t think anything of it.
“Then there were loads of police, all along the road here, and it was all cordoned off.
“They were knocking on houses to see if we had cameras. My partner always walks that way to go to the chippy so it could have been anyone really. It’s so sad.”
Detective Inspector Colin Rennison said: "We are in the very early stages of establishing the circumstances of this incident. Officers are currently at the scene and house-to-house enquiries are being carried out. We will also be checking CCTV and smart doorbell footage from the area in a bid to identify the male who was driving the vehicle.
"We are interested in hearing from anyone who may have seen a dark-coloured car being driven in the area before the collision occurred. Any information you have, however small you may think it is, could prove to be vital to our enquiries.”
If you witnessed this incident or have any information please contact Merseyside Police social media desk via Twitter @MerPolCC or Facebook ‘Merseyside Police Contact Centre’ with reference 1042 of 13th April.
You can also call 101 or contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, or via their website here: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/forms/give-information-anonymously.
