More than £8,000 raised in memory of teenagers who died after being hit by car in Oldbury
More than £8,000 has been raised for the families of two teenagers who were killed when a car crashed off the road and into pedestrians in the Black Country.
Liberty Charris, aged 16, and 19-year-old Ben Corfield, both from Dudley, were pronounced dead at the scene on the A457 Birmingham Road and Oldbury Road in Oldbury.
It happened at around 11.30pm on Sunday after a blue Nissan Skyline hit a group of pedestrians near to the junction with Crystal Drive, with flowers being left later on.
Donations have continued to flood in for both teenagers, with money raised for Liberty helping give her a proper send of, and money raised for Ben allowing his family to keep a keepsake of him – his car.
The fundraiser for Liberty set up on JustGiving has almost raised £7,000. A statement on the page read: "Due to very unfortunate circumstances we are having to say goodbye to our beautiful Liberty Charris.
"The unexpected death of a child is unimaginable, no words can comfort the family right now, no family should have to endure such heartache.
"Liberty lit up a room with a beaming smile, she filled our lives with love and laughter and her goal in life was just to make everyone else happy.
"Whilst we cannot take away the pain the family is experiencing we can try to alleviate some of the financial burdens they face. We would love to give Liberty the very best send off, any contribution however small would be greatly appreciated to help us achieve this."
Meanwhile a GoFundMe page for Ben has raised more than £1,000. A statement on the page said: "I think I can speak for everyone when I say, he was the most amazing person you’d meet, he always put others before himself and made sure anyone was okay.
"You would never see Ben down, he always had a smile on his face which was very contagious and would continuously make you laugh.
"If you needed Ben, he would be there for you without a doubt and wouldn’t leave you until he knew you were okay.
"To giving you advice to fixing your car, he would do that for you. Ben would do anything!
"He has left a huge hole in everyone’s lives and he sure will live in everyone’s memory until we meet again."
It added his cars "meant the absolute world to him" and they were his pride and joy.
It said: "Some people knew Ben as VRS Ben, for his beautiful Octavia VRS, which Ben’s family still currently have and wish to keep it in memory of Ben forever.
"I am asking you all to help out in order for Ben’s family to be able to pay off the settlement what remains of the car.
"Any donations would be appreciated massively, it would mean the world for Ben’s car to remain as his at his family home. "
A man and woman in their 20s also suffered life-threatening injuries during the incident. Police said they are in a stable condition.
A 54-year-old man arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving has been questioned by investigators. He has been released on police bail and is continuing to assist with ongoing enquiries.
Detective Sergeant Paul Hughes said: “There were a lot of people gathered in the area at the time and we’d ask anyone with dash-cam footage or any other witnesses to contact us.”
Anyone with information is asked to email FL_COLLISION_INVEST@westmidlands.police.uk, message Live Chat at west-midlands.police.uk between 8am and midnight, or call 101. Quote log number 3732 of November 20.
To donate, visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/gemma-perry or gofundme.com/f/ben-cornfield
