I was trying to brake: Woman is arrested 'after ploughing her car into families gathering for Eid prayers near Newcastle mosque' sparking panic and leaving two children in intensive care - just a week after Finsbury Park attack
This is the driver suspected of accidentally injuring six people including three children when her car careered out of control through a field full of hundreds of Muslims who had been celebrating the end of Ramadan.
The vehicle ploughed into crowds who had packed into a college sports pitch that was serving as an overflow car park for Newcastle Central Mosque at 9.14am.
Witnesses the driver, a 42-year-old Muslim woman, had got into her car after Eid prayers when she 'hit the gas not the break' and sped into adults and children.
Bloodied victims fled in horror as the car sped around the field outside Westgate Community College before a heroic bystander jumped in and pulled the handbrake.
The woman was arrested and taken into police custody but police said the incident was not terror related. The car was later filmed being taken away for investigation.
Speaking just before 2pm, Assistant Chief Constable Darren Best said two of the children and one adult were in intensive care.
The event sparked panic just a week after suspected terrorist Darren Osborne, 47, deliberately drove into worshippers outside Finsbury Park Mosque in London.
Bystanders ran across the field in panic as they saw the car ‘spinning’ through the crowds of 300 to 400 people, which included large numbers of children.
The woman had been parked on a grassy verge and went to move off when she lost control.
Witnesses said the first person hit was a ‘little boy’ as it span round three times before coming to a halt by a path.
Video shows officers comforting people caught up in the incident, which included a man bleeding from his shoulder.
Witness Uman Nyanzi said: 'It was a complete freak accident. She was praying with us just before this all happened.
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