Man sobs as he reveals moment he accidentally killed his brother when he drove lorry over him
A BROTHER sobbed as he revealed the moment he accidentally killed his own sibling when he drove a lorry over him.
Mark Potter emotionally told how he pulled away in the cabin of a lorry they were meant to take for a test drive after waiting for brother David, 57, for around ten minutes.
But he didn’t realise David had been at the front of the lorry because he had previously been seen walking with trade plates in his rearview mirror.
David then got trapped at the industrial yard where he worked in Basildon, Essex, an inquest heard yesterday. Mark immediately called for emergency services.
Tragically, David died, with a post-mortem examination stating he had suffered traumatic chest injuries. The jury heard today that a paramedic vehicle, three ambulances and an air ambulance attended the scene.
Speaking tearfully via a video link, Mark recounted how the incident happened. He said: “I saw him in the mirror at the back of the vehicle. I lost sight of him then, I couldn’t see him in either of my mirrors.
“I sat there for some time, I don’t know how long it was and I thought ‘just go on your own’. At that point I moved the vehicle forward.”
Mr Potter said it had “seemed ages” that he was waiting for his brother, believing it to be between five and ten minutes. He continued: “At that point I just thought ‘he must have just thought go on your own’.”
He said he did a full check of all his mirrors and looked out of the windscreen, and moved the automatic lorry forward.
He told the jury that he wouldn’t have even been going half a mile an hour as he had just pulled off. He then heard his brother shouting and turned off the engine. He continued: “I couldn’t see him, I didn’t know what it was.
“The last place I saw him was at the back, I went around to the back and he wasn’t there.
“I went all the way around to the front and I saw his glasses and phone at the front. He was at the front of it.”
The jury heard evidence from a colleague of David who said he rushed out of one of the buildings to the sounds of a female voice shouting “call an ambulance”.
Graham Walsh said he saw David under the lorry and then used a vehicle to lift it off him and then left paramedics to attend to him.
“The jury also heard evidence from Kelly Spratt, Mark Potter’s partner, who said while she waited in the car for the brothers to complete the test drive, she had seen her partner run passed into reception, saying “my brother’s under the lorry”.
Assistant Coroner Tina Harrington asked Mark Potter: “Is there anything you else you feel you could have done at the time?” Mr Potter replied “no”.
The inquest is set to conclude today.