Residents leapt to aid of injured in horrific Black Country smashes
People living near the scenes of two horrific crashes told how residents leapt to the aid of the injured.
Richie Nelson, aged 23, died when the car he was travelling in hit a tree in Thimblemill Road, Smethwick and three others were seriously injured.
In a second accident, a 27-year-old woman was left seriously injured and trapped in a red Audi A3 for over an hour after it collided with a silver Mercedes in Oldbury.
A 29-year-old man who lives near the scene in Smethwick but who did not want to be named, was one of the first on the scene.
He said: "All I heard was a massive bang just after 10.30pm.
"I came outside and the car was really badly smashed up, lying by the fence.
"I walked over, and a lady and a man were already there, and two others stopped their cars to get out.
"The man and woman were with someone on the floor, by the vehicle.
"The car was literally smashed up, it's something that you would see on the motorway, literally disintegrated."
A 38-year-old NHS worker who lives near the scene said: "I just heard brakes and a bang, I looked outside then phoned the police.
"The car was outside the church, facing the tree, on the grass down the bank."
The Oldbury accident happened in Wolverhampton Road just before 1am yesterday, outside Junction 2 Interiors opposite Titford Road.
Four people in the second car were able to get clear before it caught fire, while the woman had to be cut out by firefighters.
Ambulance spokeswoman Claire Brown said: "Two cars had been involved in a significant collision - the engine of one of the cars had ended up 50 metres away.
"The driver of this car, a 27-year-old woman, was knocked out and had sustained a serious head injury and fractures to her leg and pelvis.
"After just over 60 minutes the woman was released from the badly damaged car.
"The four occupants of the second car, four men, had self-extricated from the vehicle which had caught fire prior to emergency services arrival.
"All four men were walking wounded and had sustained less serious injuries ranging from ankle and abdominal injuries to facial lacerations and minor soft tissue damage. Upon assessment by ambulance staff, two required immobilisation onto a spinal board before all four men were taken to Sandwell Hospital as a precaution."
A resident on Wolverhampton Road, next to where the crash took place, said: "I heard a bang, which was what woke me up, and I thought it was kids messing around with the bus shelter.
"I looked outside and there were two cars, one on the central reservation.
"Within a couple of minutes you could see a light coming off the front wheel of that car, and then it just went up.
"I heard someone shout 'is everyone out of the car?'"
