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Viola Beach crash may have been deliberate, Swedish police say Police back-pedal on suggestion Viola Beach crash was deliberate
(about 2 hours later)
Swedish police investigating the death of four members of the British indie band Viola Beach and their manager after their car plunged off a bridge into a canal are looking into the possibility that the crash was deliberate, according to a Swedish newspaper report. A Swedish police officer has rolled back on the suggestion that a car crash which killed the four members of the British indie band Viola Beach and their manager might have been in some way deliberate, saying inattention by the driver was a more likely explanation.
Aftonbladet said it had viewed CCTV footage of what happened on the bridge in Södertälje on 13 February. A video reconstruction of the footage, produced by the newspaper, shows the band’s Nissan Qashqai pull to a halt behind other cars waiting at a barrier, which was in place because part of the bridge had been raised to allow an oil tanker to pass through. Lars Berglund, one of the officers investigating the crash on 13 February, had told Sweden’s Aftonbladet that the way the band’s rented car accelerated past two crash barriers as a bridge was being raised to let through a boat might have indicated some intent.
The reconstruction shows the band’s car pull past two other vehicles on the hard shoulder before crashing through the barrier. The car then disappears from view of the CCTV cameras, Aftonbladet said. His comments came after the newspaper said CCTV footage of the start of the incident showed the band’s car stopping behind other cars at the barrier before squeezing past them on the hard shoulder of the road and through the first of the barriers. The vehicle then went through another barrier at speed before striking the part-open bridge and dropping almost 30 metres into a canal.
The warning lights and barriers were clearly visible and the rented car was almost new and had no apparent faults, Lars Berglund, one of the police officers investigating the case, told the newspaper. But talking later to Länstidningen Södertälje, the local newspaper for the area near Stockholm where the crash happened, Berglund gave another possible explanation, saying the driver of the Nissan Qashqai – who has not been specified by police – lost concentration while squeezing past the queueing cars.
“We can’t find any secondary explanation,” he was quoted as saying. “It looked like the driver acted deliberately.” “My theory is that he was inattentive for some reason, perhaps talking on a mobile phone or turning round to the others in the car, and he didn’t see the barrier in time,” Berglund said.
The car accelerated through another barrier and struck the part-raised bridge before plunging 30 metres into the water. Berglund said the initial impact could have killed some or all of those inside. Damage to the first barrier and the car indicated the force of the initial impact could have knocked out the driver, the police officer said. He added: “This is again speculation, but he might have been knocked out with his foot on the accelerator and just gone on into the second barrier, which caused less damage as the car struck the middle of it, causing less of an impact.”
Kris Leonard, River Reeves, Tomas Lowe, Jack Dakin and manager Craig Tarry, aged between 19 and 35, were on their way back to an airport hotel after the band had played at a music festival, their first-ever foreign gig. The fact the car slowed normally at first for the barrier queue meant the driver was not asleep, Berglund said, adding that there was no indication of any reason to want to cause a crash after a successful gig, the Warrington band’s first abroad.
Last month Swedish police said the driver of the car – they have not said who this was – had no trace of alcohol or drugs in his blood, according to preliminary results. Kris Leonard, River Reeves, Tomas Lowe, Jack Dakin and manager Craig Tarry, aged between 19 and 35, were on their way back to an airport hotel after the band had played at a music festival.
Berglund told Aftonbladet that the car struck the part-raised bridge before hitting the water with an impact strong enough to possibly kill those inside instantly.
Last month Swedish police said the driver of the car had no trace of alcohol or drugs in his blood, according to preliminary results.
Aftonbladet also spoke to the man whose car was first in the queue at the initial barrier. Kent Uddén said the driver of the band’s car pulled past him on the left like “a maniac”, almost hitting his car, before driving through both sets of barriers.Aftonbladet also spoke to the man whose car was first in the queue at the initial barrier. Kent Uddén said the driver of the band’s car pulled past him on the left like “a maniac”, almost hitting his car, before driving through both sets of barriers.
“All I heard then inside the car was a muffled bang. It was hard to understand what had happened, it was all so surreal,” he was quoted as saying.“All I heard then inside the car was a muffled bang. It was hard to understand what had happened, it was all so surreal,” he was quoted as saying.