Footballer's sister helps injured driver

A GROUP of teenagers including footballer Kieron Dyer's sister today spoke of the moment they ran to help a couple whose car crashed on the A14 after paving stone was thrown from a bridge.

The trio were driving north along the dual carriageway near Ipswich at around 1am Saturday morning when they spotted a Ford Focus embedded in trees off the road.

As reported in yesterday's Evening Star, the focus was struck with a paving slab thrown from the A1156 bridge in White House near the Asda supermarket.

The driver of the car, a man from Bury St Edmunds, lost control of the vehicle and suffered cuts while his female passenger was left shaken.

Daniel Cunningham, 19, of Brooks Hall Road, Ipswich, was travelling with friends Kirsha Dyer, the sister of former Ipswich Star Kieron, and Daniel Parnell when they spotted the aftermath of the smash.

He said: “From the state of the car I thought people had been seriously injured.

“I carried on driving to the next junction and turned round to come back and see if they were alright.

“When we got out the car I could hear the woman screaming saying 'help, help' and I called an ambulance.

“She was really shaken up and he couldn't move and there was blood coming from his neck.

“He was conscious but only just.”

Mr Cunningham gave his jacket to the injured man and waited with them while emergency services arrived.

Kirsha Dyer, 19, said: “It was shocking.

“Whoever did this is disgusting.

“People like that should be put in prison.

“It is dangerous and they endangered people's lives.

“These two people hadn't done anything wrong and there's the possibility someone could have died.”

Police are today continuing to hunt the person responsible for the accident and are appealing for information.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on Pc Danny Ormes at the road policing unit in Martlesham on 01473 324788.

A DRIVER hit in the chest by a piece of paving stone hurled from a bridge above feared he was going to die, his sickened father said today.

The 57-year-old was driving home with his partner after a holiday in Brittany when the eight inch square slab of stone crashed through his Ford Focus' windscreen and pounded into his chest.

The man's father, who lives in Ipswich, said: “It went through the windscreen, hit him in the chest, gashed his neck and finished up on the back seat.

“His arms just dropped off the steering wheel.

“The first thing he heard was a tremendous bang and then felt an awful pain in his chest.

“He thought he was going to die.”

The impact left the car careering up the bank at the side of the road into trees about 50 metres from the A14.

The driver, who lives in Bury St Edmunds, spent two nights in Ipswich Hospital. He suffered a fractured neck vertebrae, and a six-inch gash to his neck.

His partner, who was in the passenger seat, suffered bruising when the car crashed off the road. The car was a write-off.

The driver's father said: “If it had hit him two inches further over it would have been curtains because it would have hit the main artery in his neck.”

The couple, who had crossed from Cherbourg to Portsmouth before travelling around the M25 and up the A12, had only driven along the A14 instead of up the M11 because it was closed.

The driver's father said his injured son could easily have been killed by the yobs who dropped the stone.

“It's absolutely ridiculous,” he said.

The driver has now been signed off work for six weeks and has returned home to begin his recovery.