Friends have described a ‘good man taken too soon’ after a driver in his 20s died following a crash into a boundary wall in Long Melford.
Flowers were laid at the scene in Station Road yesterday where the young man lost his life. He has not yet been named by police.
Colleen Edwards, who lives in the house where the Volkswagen Golf crashed, said she came outside to find the car on its side blocking the driveway following the incident in the early hours.
She said: “About 1.30am I heard an almighty noise and got up. I looked out the window and saw smoke. I thought it was an explosion in the house opposite. I immediately dialled 999 and it was when I was on the phone to the emergency services that I opened the door and saw it was a vehicle across the front.
“Within minutes a police car was here. I came out with a torch to see if I could offer any assistance and the police officer said ‘can you go back inside’.
“Then there were flashing blue lights all night long. They desperately tried to resuscitate him.”
Her partner Glenn Boydell added: “It’s a tragedy. We feel for his mother because we’ve got kids the same age.”
Police said the victim, who is believed to be from the Sudbury area, died at the scene.
One message left on a bunch of flowers at the scene read: “Sleep tight mate. A good man taken too soon.”
The road was closed for a number of hours after the crash but was reopened before 7am. The car was removed around 5am.
Station Road is the main road connecting the centre of Long Melford with the A134 roundabout at Sudbury and has a 30mph speed limit.
Tyre marks on the verge appeared to indicate the car was travelling southbound, away from the village centre, when it left the road and hit the wall.
The crash is the fifth in Suffolk since the start of the year in which someone has died, with one other happening only just over the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire border near Brinkley in January. There was also a fatal crash just over the Norfolk border in Starston.
Other eyewitnesses to the aftermath of the crash reported three fire engines had been called along with around six police cars and paramedics.
Suffolk’s police and crime commissioner Tim Passmore said his thoughts were with the young man’s friends and family.
He added that extra investment in roads policing in Suffolk would remain one of his priorities in the wake of the latest fatal crash.
“We’re going to continue doing everything possible on investing in extra roads policing,” he said. “While I don’t know all the details about this incident I want to reassure everybody we’re doing everything we can to try to improve driving standards and keep people safe on Suffolk’s roads.”
Anyone who may have seen the car before the crash or witnessed what happened should call the serious collision investigation team on 101, quoting CAD 26 February 19.
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