A woman was decapitated by a 40-ton truck in a hit-and-run tragedy today - as witnesses took sick photos of her on their mobile phones.
The victim is believed to have fallen into the path of the articulated lorry as it travelled through the rush hour. The HGV driver then drove off without stopping.
Police were called to the scene at 10am on Upper Brook Street in Longsight, Manchester, to find the woman’s body parts strewn across the road.
But as the tragedy unfolded passers-by whipped out their phones and began taking pictures of the grisly scene before posting them on social networking site Twitter.
Eye witnesses claimed builders working on a nearby site had also filmed the death taking place. One picture on Twitter showing the woman’s severed leg was later deleted.
The trucker has now been arrested on suspicion of murder after his vehicle was pulled over by police at a side street near a council tip three miles from the death scene.
Officers are now investigating whether the victim jumped to her death from an office block during the morning rush hour and fell into the path of the truck.
Police also looking at whether the woman walked into the path of the vehicle and are even thought to be looking into claims the body may have fallen out of the lorry.
[...]
One Twitter user cycling to work said: 'Just driven past the body of someone who had committed suicide by jumping off a building in Manchester. People were filming it - sick.'
He added: 'It was absolutely revolting. Like nothing I have ever seen. There were some builders nearby who were filming it on their phones.'
[...]
Supt Wasim Chaudhry from Greater Manchester Police said: 'At 10am this morning police received a report of a body in the road.
'Officers attended and we can confirm we found the body of a deceased female.
'It’s a very fast moving investigation. The female has suffered some sort of road traffic injuries.
'We are in the very early stages and we are keeping an open mind as to what has happened here today.
'At this stage a 47-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody for questioning.
[...]
'We are making every effort to try and identify the person who has lost her life in what are clearly tragic circumstances. We are also trying to establish her age.'
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