Liverpool supporter Jack Trotter, 22, has recounted the harrowing experience of being struck by a car during the club's victory parade.
Trotter described the moment he "locked eyes" with the driver and begged him to stop just before the vehicle hit him. The Co Down resident was celebrating Liverpool's success on Water Street in the city centre on Monday when he found himself face-to-face with the Ford Galaxy.
Fellow fans and locals rushed to his aid, helping him into a nearby pub until emergency services arrived to transport him to the hospital. Photographs of Trotter, wearing a Liverpool scarf and being carried by two firefighters, made the front pages of several national newspapers on Tuesday.
Despite escaping serious injury and being discharged from the hospital, Trotter fears he may experience walking difficulties for weeks. Trotter had traveled to Liverpool with his girlfriend, Abbie Gallagher, 22, who witnessed the terrifying incident and screamed his name as the car approached him.
"Abbie was a few feet ahead of me, and I was just taking videos singing with Liverpool fans I'd never even met before," Trotter shared with the PA news agency.
"Then I just heard her screaming my name, I put my phone down and by then I was face to face with the car. He had slowed down. And then I put my hands up and pleaded for him to stop, and he wasn't stopping. Then he clipped me.", reports Belfast Live.
Trotter described the incident as "very quick" and revealed that he did make eye contact with the driver. "People were hitting his car, shouting at him. Everything was very dark. Everything was very blurry. He had ran through me by the time I could get a good look at him.
"When the car had hit me, the adrenaline kicked in, and I didn't really, obviously feel anything. And then once I found my partner, the adrenaline wore off, and then I just collapsed on the wall and said 'Abbie, that's me, I'm gone".
Mr Trotter recounted how passers-by assisted him after the incident until firefighters escorted him to an ambulance. The harrowing episode was caught on camera by nearby photographers.
"We were approached by a few Liverpool men, and then by a bouncer of a pub," he shared. "She ushered us inside, cleared the space despite the packed venue, secured a seat for me and then sought out emergency services."
When queried about his injuries, Mr Trotter shared: "My legs aren't broken, which is good. It's just my left leg where it was hit is just a good bit tender. My back's got slipped disks. I just recovered from a back injury... It's just brought it back, but 10 times worse."
Mr Trotter, expecting to return home with his girlfriend on Wednesday, expressed uncertainty over his ability to travel given his condition. "We're going to have to get on with easyJet, to find a way for me to access the plane. I'm not going to be able to walk up steps anytime soon."
Reflecting on the "traumatic" experience, he mentioned: "It's going to impact me for a lot of reasons. "I'm just thinking, was it actually even real? Was it, you know, a dream? We are still here. However, the worst could have happened."
Following the harrowing incident, more than 50 individuals, children among them, received medical attention in various hospitals, with 11 patients currently stable, as per the police update on Tuesday.
Authorities have taken the 53 year old driver into custody on allegations of attempted murder, dangerous driving, and driving under the influence of drugs.
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