A young woman was killed in front of her boyfriend after being mown down by a car fleeing police, witnesses said today.
The victim in her twenties was flung into the air when she was struck by the vehicle at a junction on the A23 Brixton Hill at about 9.45pm last night.
Witnesses said she had been with her boyfriend and a friend when she was struck by the car which failed to stop having been flagged down by officers.
It is believed the car may have veered into the group as they waited to cross near the junction with Arodene Road.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives were today hunting the occupants of a Mercedes-Benz C-Class car found abandoned nearby. It is not thought police were chasing the vehicle at the time of the crash.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “The car sped off from police and was then involved in a collision with a pedestrian. The car did not stop at the scene.
“The car was found abandoned nearby and enquiries are ongoing to trace the occupants.”
A witness told the Standard: “I saw the car — it was going at least 70, it just kept going and didn’t even look back.
“She hadn’t even stepped into the road, I think she was just looking to see if it was clear to cross.
“I called the ambulance as soon as I saw what happened. Her boyfriend and her best friend were there with her — he was in total shock, trying to hold it together.”
The woman added: “I spoke to a bus driver who was pulling up when they hit her. He said the car didn’t even put on its brakes.”
Another witness said: “It was totally shocking her friends were rushing over. They were telling her to keep breathing.”
Parts of a car’s smashed wing-mirror lay in the road inside a police cordon last night while a forensic tent could be seen by a bus stop outside shops.
The Metropolitan Police’s Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed about the incident. It comes 13 months after Celia Ines Betrouni, 24, was killed by a hit-and-run driver speeding at 90 miles per hour in Brixton Hill, 600 yards away.
Aaron Blackwood Jones, 31, was jailed for 10 years in December after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of a collision.
