Those are the heart-wrenching words of the mum of Soriah Barry, a promising singer who died following a crash with a double-decker bus in Lea Bridge Road, Clapton, in February last year.
She lay dying in the road for almost two hours while onlookers filmed her and uploaded the footage.
And as she fought for her life, police officers discussed ‘nicking’ her.
Now her family say Soriah’s life could have been saved if she had been treated with ‘care and compassion’.
Speaking to Metro, Soriah’s mum, Saphiatu, said: ‘We have kept her room exactly as it was. The light is still on, her makeup powder is still everywhere. But after a few months, everyone did say I needed to get rid of the KFC still up there.’
Pictures of Soriah, smiling with her three siblings, are on almost every wall of the family home. She is at a recording studio, at a family party or on holiday – full of life.
But as the family try to process their grief, the crash investigation has led to more questions rather than answering them.
The family argue that clips of her care at the scene sting of negligence, with officers discussing whether to ‘nick her’.
It took two hours for her to get to the hospital. In this time, spectators filmed her lying on the road with her clothes open and uploaded it to TikTok.
Saphiatu said: ‘She was treated like a criminal at the scene, rather than with care and compassion.
‘We do not blame anyone else for the actual crash. But Soriah’s life could have been saved.’
The family think she became distracted at the wheel of the car, which would frequently veer to the side.
When seeing it was beginning to drift, they believe she put her foot down on the accelerator instead of the brake.
‘She went from 23mph to 30mph in the space of a few seconds before crashing into the bus,’ her mum said.
Bystanders were first on the scene, and in the 999 calls heard by Metro, they tried desperately to lift her out of the car.
Witness Curtis Chrissafi ran to help Soriah. He said: ‘She tried to push the door open. I asked her if she was okay, she faintly said, “No, I’m not.’
They can be heard lifting her together as a responder on the phone instructed them calmly on how to get her to safety as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
‘You need to listen to me very carefully, and get her out the car,’ the 999 operator says. ‘This young lady is really quite poorly.’
Once police and paramedics arrived, the sense of urgency seemed to dissipate, according to neighbours who watched on.
Her family say this is because empty alcohol bottles and gas cannisters were found inside the car – but Soriah was well below the legal limit according to toxicology reports.
‘She had just gone on a weekend away with friends and the Airbnb said they had to take all their rubbish home with them, and it ended up in Soriah’s car,’ mum said.
On the body cam footage, a police officer discusses whether to ‘nick’ Soriah, while a paramedic sarcastically comments, ‘surprise, surprise’ upon seeing the bottles.
The sense of urgency altered once Soriah was loaded into an ambulance, and promptly went into cardiac arrest.
In the end, she was taken to The Royal London Hospital amid rush hour traffic, which her family claims not only caused a delay in her arrival but also might have been prevented if they had left earlier.
Soriah finally arrived at 8.52 am, two hours after the initial collision, with her mum already there waiting.
‘It’s crazy to think I actually got there before her. Police came and picked me up at 8 am, and I spent ages waiting in family rooms before a surgeon told me nothing more could be done.’
During the operation for a lacerated liver, Soriah went into cardiac arrest another three times.
The family screamed when they were told the news, and has been working to live without her ever since.
Saving a life should always take top priority, not whether the person should be ‘nicked.’ A life is a life, no matter what the person has done. There should have been no delay in getting this woman to the hospital, and this requires a proper investigation by independent investigators. Can you imagine the outcry if someone in government were left on the road dying for two hours? Well, it just wouldn’t happen.
A lot of people have said that the accident itself was Soriah’s fault. However, nobody has claimed that it wasn’t her fault, but for whatever reason, she ended up hitting a bus, although she was not over the limit; the toxicology report shows that she was well below the drinking limit.
She had gone for a weekend away with friends, and I don’t suppose in any stretch of the imagination that she thought she would end up dead. It doesn’t sound like she was reckless behind the wheel, and we shouldn’t make inferences that she was. I feel for the family because Soriah died in such a brutal way, with horrific injuries, lying in the cold for hours without family or friends.
She is no longer able to live, have children, travel, or pursue her aspirations, and it is unjust to criminalise the deceased. A loved one who is unable to defend themselves or provide an accurate account of what actually transpired.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 