Can someone explain to me what is going on with the A66 crash and revenge killings?

[lalalagarden]

I’m not understanding any of this. 5 young men were driving a car in the wrong land and hit an unmarked car head on, killing the two police officers driving it. That I understand.

Why are there now reports of a house being burned out, killing an older woman and a young child? Further hints of gangland violence. Why? Is it the families of the 5 men blaming each other, or other people?

They were radio'd to support and were likely also travelling at speed towards the junction, not knowing that they had come down it, or maybe the message hadn't got to them in time.

As for why no other cars, A-roads in towns at 4am are generally very very quiet. There would not have been lots of traffic, and even so, it was only 10 seconds into them being on the A road that the accident happened.

I read earlier that the police were attending several machete attacks in the area this afternoon not sure if that’s true/ been reported in the media.

thank you, that's helpful and makes sense.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/a66-crash-uncle-wrong-way-down-mmotorway-100mph-jailed-5HjdgYX_2/

This has been widely reported.

@YourWinter

what on earth is the mentality of these people? It’s beyond all understanding

That, plus it was the early wee hours so not many cars on the road.

Edit: I see someone made that point.

And you don't need to be obsessively reading every news article to glean this information. I've definitely not been reading the teesside gazette as it's popups galore and I can't get round that with the app as it doesn't work properly with the Newcastle version of the app installed.

It's bloody hard work for the local police.
200 extra police brought in as Cleveland officers working 20-hour days | The Northern Echo https://share.google/8aQibH0lzQ0hK08G3

Only the tip of the iceberg, I imagine. I feel desperately sorry for all the authorities.

That 18 year old was reported to have been the father of a year-old child and his uncle, jailed previously for similarly driving at 100mph the wrong way down the same road, is only 23. When such lawlessness is spanning generations, what hope is there for the small children? I expect a much wider web of interconnected criminals of all ages, and all in its midst will blame somebody else.

Well said, I'm local too and I'm seeing and hearing a lot of support for the police at the moment, most people are horrified by what's happened and maybe people who kept their heads down are talking now, people are reporting things, cooperating with the police investigations.

There's no getting away from the fact this is a deprived area, but there's an awful lot of decent people around too, who are genuinely upset and affected by the events of the last week, the outpouring of support for the police/emergency services, the officers families, and now the little girl and lady in the fire has been huge.

It starts to become part of the problem when everyone from an area is written off because of the lifestyle of some. There's good people here, lots of them too.

@Devonshiregal
Regarding the police car on the A66, a statement I read (widely reported) said the police car involved was responding to an ANPR ping for the VW Passat so heading for that location, and other units were in pursuit, the chase was called off after the Passat went onto the wrong side, but the collision happened 10 seconds later and on a bend so doubtful those poor officers had chance to be warned/realise they were heading straight at the Passat.

This is sickening. Those poor horses must have been terrified 😢

www.dailymail.com/news/article-16085999/youths-torch-field-cars-tribute-victim-A66-crash.html

What confounds me is a total lack of reasoning behind these acts. Attacking one another is one thing, but not just taking two lives in the fire, going on to doughnutting then destroying (likely stolen) vehicles in a field containing horses shows the complete absence of normal thought.
So what went wrong? Was it poor parenting? Was it ineffective schooling? Is it the need to belong (classic gang culture). Is it joblessness, or it is our lazy benefits system?
I’d say certainly being fed by easy money from drug distribution, but surely that can’t be all of them?
That’s all that I don’t understand. How do normal people instinctively use the checks and balances appropriate to living in a society, whereas there seems to be a complete lack here? The field gathering last night, resulting in the burning cars was called for by his mother posting on social: 'Change of plans michales [sic] baloon release Thursday peterlee White House opposite on field come on lads bikes jeeps cars quads give him send of he deserves'.

@Rubydobydo

god that quote. I did some volunteer work for an advice organisation for a couple of years. In a matter of days I caught on to the fact that many, many people are functionally illiterate. And largely this wasn’t the older generation (60 plus) who may have been confused by the meaning of some forms, letters etc. but could actually read them.

So what went wrong? Was it poor parenting? Was it ineffective schooling? Is it the need to belong (classic gang culture). Is it joblessness, or it is our lazy benefits system?
I’d say certainly being fed by easy money from drug distribution, but surely that can’t be all of them?

I’d say all of the above, @Rubydobydo

@user1464187087Social media speculation prejudices criminal investigations and trials by spreading false information, biasing potential jurors, and interfering with crucial witnesses. 1,
When people share rumors and unverified theories online, it creates severe risks for the justice system.

That mother has got a lot to answer for. Poor parenting doesn't cover it. We do not want gang wars on our streets.
Look at El Salvador. It went from people not able to leave their houses at all, to the building of a confinement centre for drug gangs. It is unbelievably almost inhumane, but these are gang members who have murdered again and again. Now the El Salvadorans can have their fiestas and go out after dark. I am not advocating that for UK, but I think punishments need to be harsh and the fact 200 extra police have been drafted in means they are trying to break the back of this before it escalates into gang warfare.

Don't know about ineffective schooling. My hunch would be that very few of these wastrels have attended school regularly, behaved well so as not to disrupt anyone else's learning, paid attention in class, tried their utmost even when it's hard, done their homework and passed exams. I'd also speculate that very few of their parents have worked as hard as they could with the schools on improving their children's behaviour, attendance and attainment. Far more likely that they are the ones threatening staff, other kids and parents for 'picking on' their nightmare offspring, i.e. daring to object to their behaviour. I take my hat off to the teachers who work in schools with a significant number of families like this. It must be awful.

Innocent people have been harmed though. Feral scum like this need to be dealt with and harshly.

That mother has got a lot to answer for. Poor parenting doesn't cover it. We do not want gang wars on our streets.

Her message was clearly an incitement as to what happened yesterday evening. As to the PP above, what drives these people to act so outside the usual social norms is first and foremost a parenting issue. Parents can be poor / working class and still want their kids to do well, or at least be polite and functioning members of society, and strive to make sure they are. These youths have been dragged up by parents who actively teach them to disrespect others / teachers / police / any form of authority whatsoever. Without the parents on board, the other agencies have no hope.

Agreed. Two of my grandparents were brought up in what would now be regarded as extreme poverty. They had to leave school at 12 or 13 and take whatever work they could get. They and their brothers and sisters somehow all managed to become useful members of society and good parents. I can see that poverty increases the temptation to get involved in crime, but regardless of income levels some people are more likely than others to be risk-takers, selfish, impulsive, rulebreakers etc etc. Decades ago when there was less individualism and more emphasis on conformity people like that got away with a lot less. Shaming others can be very nasty but shamelessness is not great either.

Following on from @YourWinter, if an 18-yr old is fathering a child, how old is the mother? 16? 17? Likely Michael's mother was also very young and becoming a mother doesn't suddenly turn someone into a responsible citizen.

I'm not excusing their behaviour, despite it being recognised for decades nothing is being done to break cycle of reliance on benefits that creates an underclass. If multiple generations have not had meaningful employment there are no community role models.

Wouldnt be surpised if all drug related sadly

Scumbags. The level of naivety on here is amazing.

I think one of the mothers is already asking for an investigation and blaming the police for it happening. Deluded fool. What are the police supposed to do? Look at NI, the same thing and three women still in hospital after the eejits drove the wrong way down a motorway for laughs.

The police have to do something at the time, and it won't always be 100% the right decision but they are trying to protect the public.

We’ve seen it so many times.

Youths on e scooters.

Police try to pull them over - they run (ride off) follow follow and youths killed.

police blamed.

Wasn’t it Wales where this resulted in a night of riots over the same situation?