🚔 Police Chase Ends In Unthinkable A66 Tragedy—Seven Dead, And A Startling Detail About One Of The Teenagers Emerges
A high-speed joyride along the A66 in the early hours of Saturday ended in catastrophic tragedy when a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way smashed head-on into a marked police vehicle, killing two Cleveland Police officers and all five young men inside the civilian car.
PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, died at the scene near South Bank, Middlesbrough. The five occupants of the Passat were named as Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Theo Rae, 17, Cole Robert Worthy, 17, Jacob Matusiak, 23, and Makai Saddington, 18. All seven victims perished in the devastating collision that has left two police families shattered and a community in mourning.
Now a stark new detail has emerged about one of the teenagers who died. Saddington was awaiting trial on charges of racially abusing and assaulting police officers at the time of the crash. Court records show he appeared for a first hearing on 17 July over allegations that he assaulted Sergeant Rooker of Cleveland Police and caused racially aggravated alarm or distress to PC Chowdhury. The incidents were reported to have taken place in June.
The revelation has intensified scrutiny of the events leading up to the fatal smash. Cleveland Police believe the Passat was fitted with cloned number plates and had already been linked to several suspicious incidents in the area. Just minutes before the crash, officers had pursued the vehicle at high speed for around seven minutes through residential streets in Middlesbrough. Ring doorbell cameras captured the car racing through the streets at approximately 3.36am, its engine roaring as it tore past homes.
Residents on Lime Road, roughly a mile from the crash site, described being jolted awake by the sound of screeching tyres. Ellie Westerman, 24, said the vehicle must have been travelling at between 80 and 100 mph down the narrow street. “The noise woke me and I shot out of bed. You could feel the vibration in the house as the car went past and the police vehicles followed with their lights and sirens going,” she recalled. “It was frightening that cars were being driven at that speed through a residential area and it’s tragic people have ended up dying.” Another resident added that the suspect vehicle took the corner into their road at tremendous speed, the screech of tyres cutting through the quiet night.
Officers made the critical decision to call off the pursuit once the Passat entered the A66 travelling in the wrong direction. Ten seconds later the car slammed into a different marked police vehicle that was heading correctly along the dual carriageway. The impact was catastrophic. Emergency services rushed to the scene as the scale of the devastation became clear. Seven people had lost their lives in a single collision that has sent shockwaves through the local force and the wider community.
PC Blades leaves behind a wife and two young sons. A husband and father who had recently taken on a coaching role with Seaton Carew FC, he was preparing to work with the club’s under-sevens team, the same side in which his own son plays. His wife paid a heartbreaking tribute, describing him as her “beloved husband, my best friend, and the most devoted father to our two young boys.” She said no words would ever feel adequate to honour him.
PC Clough, 38, had previously served with the British Transport Police and was a former soldier. His family remembered him as their “hero,” a man with a fantastic sense of humour who could always be relied upon to jump into action when needed. Floral tributes and cards have piled up outside Cleveland Police headquarters and near the crash site, a silent testament to the respect and affection the two officers commanded.
The five young men who died in the Passat have also been mourned by relatives and friends. Close friends Theo Rae and Cole Worthy, both 17, were among those who lost their lives. Jacob Matusiak, 23, and Michael Cahill, 23, were also passengers. Yet attention has inevitably focused on Saddington’s online activity in the months leading up to the tragedy. Social media clips have surfaced showing him as a passenger in an Audi during a high-speed police chase through a housing estate in May. Blue lights flash behind the car as it appears to veer across a grassy playing field in an attempt to escape. Another video linked to him shows a green Nissan being driven around before being set alight. Separate images depict Saddington and a friend posing in cars while wearing black balaclavas.
The footage has fuelled wider concern about a growing trend of young men filming police pursuits and posting the clips online in search of views and likes. What once might have remained private risk-taking now plays out on social media platforms, turning dangerous behaviour into content. In this case the consequences proved fatal for everyone involved.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has opened an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the crash. Investigators will examine the pursuit, the decision to terminate it, and the sequence of events that led to the head-on collision. Cleveland Police continue to piece together the moments before the impact, working to understand how a vehicle with cloned plates ended up travelling the wrong way on a major road in the early hours.
For the families of PC Blades and PC Clough the loss is immediate and profound. Two officers who went to work to protect the public never returned home. For the relatives of the five young men the grief is equally raw, complicated by the circumstances of the joyride and the emerging details about one of those who died. The crash has also left a community grappling with questions about speed, risk, and the allure of filming police chases for an online audience.
Saturday’s horror on the A66 stands as a stark reminder of how quickly a night of reckless driving can end in irreversible loss. Seven lives extinguished in seconds. Two police families left without husbands and fathers. Five young men gone. And one of them, it has now been revealed, was already facing court for assaulting and racially abusing the very officers sworn to keep the public safe. The investigation continues, the tributes keep arriving, and the full story of those final minutes is still being pieced together.