What to know about the crash into a parade for Liverpool soccer fans

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — A British man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after he drove a minivan into Liverpool soccer fans celebrating their team’s Premier League Championship in an incident that injured 65 people, police said Tuesday.

Authorities said the 53-year-old is also suspected of dangerous driving and driving on drugs. He was believed to be the only suspect and the incident was not being investigated as an act of terrorism.

Hundreds of thousands of fans had lined the route of the hourslong procession under heavy security along a 10-mile (16-kilometer) route through the city

Here’s what we know so far about the crash:

A car rammed into a crowd

As the parade was ending, the driver turned down an area that had been closed to traffic and plowed his car into a crowd on Water Street, in the northwestern English city.

Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims from Merseyside Police said the driver is believed to have maneuvered around a road block by following an ambulance that was rushing to treat a person suspected of having a heart attack.

Pandemonium broke out as people rushed the car and pounded on it.

Harry Rashid said that car passed him and his family and the driver came to a stop after hitting several people. However, when the crowd started smashing the vehicle’s windows, the driver sped up again and struck more people.

Peter Jones said he heard the car collide with bodies and saw at least a half-dozen people down in the road.

Emergency vehicles and an air ambulance rushed to the scene to attend to the injured.

Dozens were injured

Police originally said 27 people were hospitalized and 20 were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

But they revised those figures upward Tuesday, saying 50 had been treated at hospitals and 11 remained there in stable condition. A total of 65 were injured.

The wounded included four children, one of whom had been trapped beneath the vehicle with three adults.

A suspect has been arrested

Police said the 53-year-old man from the Liverpool is suspected of attempted murder. They did not release his name, which is typical if charges haven’t been filed.

The force took the unusual step of identifying him as a white British man in order to prevent misinformation from flooding social media, Liverpool City Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said.

Rotheram said police did so to tamp down online speculation about the suspect as false rumors spread rapidly online of there being another incident.

Last summer, a teen in the nearby town of Southport killed three girls in a stabbing rampage at a dance class. Incorrect information quickly spread online saying the attacker was an asylum-seeker. In fact, he had been born in the U.K. Rioting spread across England and Northern Ireland, targeting mosques and accommodation for asylum-seekers.

Tragedy struck as Liverpool celebrated

Liverpool fans were celebrating the city team’s Premier League soccer championship in a record-tying 20th top-flight title.

The team’s last league title was in 2020, but fans couldn’t publicly celebrate in the same way due to pandemic-related restrictions.

Monday’s parade wound through the streets despite wet weather. Jubilant fans danced and waved scarves while the team’s players celebrated atop two buses.

Liverpool clinched the title last month, but the season only ended Sunday. Rival Manchester United has also won 20 English league titles.