The mother of a young woman who was trapped with the bodies of her dead friends for nearly 48 hours but survived a horrific car crash has blasted police’s ‘terrible’ response.
Anna Certowicz, 42, is the mother of Sophie Russon, 20, one of two friends who survived the crash that happened as the five young people were driving to a night out in Cardiff.
Anna said about the police“If they had gotten there sooner, we don’t know, but maybe they could have survived.”
“The police didn’t do enough – it wasn’t until people started posting on social media that they paid us any attention,” she said. The mirror. “They got calls from me, Sophie’s dad and all the other families, but they were very blasé and said they were probably partying.”
Anna continues to care for her daughter, who she says was “unrecognizable” from her injuries and required life-saving surgery after fracturing her skull in the accident that killed three of her closest friends.
Anna Certowicz, 42, (pictured with her daughter Sophie Russon, right) said her daughter’s friends might have survived the horror crash had police been there sooner
Sophie Russon, 20, was sedated in hospital after undergoing life-saving surgery after fracturing her skull in the crash, which led to bleeding in her brain
Anna has now spoken out about what she called the “appalling” way the police handled the case and criticized their treatment of the victims’ families, who had raised the alarm that they were missing.
Darcy Ross, 21, and Eve Smith, 20, were found dead along with driver Rafel Jeanne, 24, at the scene near St Mellons, Cardiff. Passenger Shane Loughlin, 32, was also injured.
Sophie and co-passenger Shane Loughlin, 32, were trapped in the car for two days after it crashed Friday night on the way to a Newport nightclub.
The group is said to have crashed into trees while driving from Cardiff back to Newport, where the women lived.
They swerved off the A48 in the St Mellons area of Cardiff and were not found for 48 hours.
Earlier this month, Anna described the “miracle” that her daughter had recovered so well.
Just a month after the March 6 crash, she said Sophie was “awake, eating and talking,” according to her mother.
Sophie and Shane remained critically injured in the upturned car for 46 hours until police found the wreckage.
Ms. Certowicz, a mother of three, was one of 200 people looking for the five adults.
She revealed that her daughter was ‘conscious at times’ in the car after it drove off the A48 in Cardiff and had ‘called out but no one was close enough to hear her’.
Her daughter has been treated with Shane at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff and has now been transferred to a specialist rehabilitation unit.
Anna previously told the Daily Mail: ‘I feel terrible for Eve and Darcy’s families, they were all best friends and have known each other since they were little’.
She added that the only people who knew what had happened were her daughter and the other survivor, Mr Loughlin, who did not meet the girls for the first time until Friday evening.
She said her daughter was “cold, terrified, unable to reach her cell phone” while trapped in the wrecked car.
Ms Certowicz said she first called the police at noon the next day after her daughter failed to return from a night out on Friday.
Gwent police reportedly told her not to worry, saying her daughter was probably still out partying.
Just after 11 p.m. on Sunday, the service issued its own public appeal.
Sophie was found on Monday and taken from the VW Tiguan where she had spent two days alongside her deceased friends.
Mrs Smith and Mr Jeane had died in the crash in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Eve Smith, 21, Darcy Ross, 21, and Sophie Russon, 20, met Rafel Jeanne, 24, and Shane Loughlin, 32, at a club in Newport
Floral tribute left near the crime scene in the St Mellons area of Cardiff where three people who disappeared on a night out were killed in a road accident
South Wales Police Assistant Chief Constable Jason Davies previously said: ‘Our thoughts are with the families of all the victims of this tragic incident.
Specialized agents are conducting an investigation to find out what happened.
“Family liaison officers are supporting the families involved in what must be an extremely difficult time for them.
“To ensure independent oversight, South Wales Police have referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, as is customary in these circumstances.”
