A27 crashes in Portsmouth as 'man mimicking a gorilla' jumps out in front of traffic

One driver commuting to work discovered the chaotic scene eastbound on the A27 Western Road, near King George V Playing Fields in Cosham, this morning at 5am.

Driver Launce Morgan, 60, saw a badly damaged red Volkswagen Polo ‘rolled completely over’ after first spotting a HGV stopped across the road.

Ahead of it he saw the red VW Polo badly damaged – and then the saw the man acting like a gorilla.

Mr Morgan said: ‘I saw an articulated lorry that appeared to have stopped across the road, then I saw a red car in front of it that appeared to have rolled completely over and had suffered a lot of damage.

‘Then in the middle of the outside lane road, a white male aged 30 to 45, who appeared initially to be mimicking a gorilla, was running to my car.

‘The man had very wide staring eyes that I cannot forget. As I slowed further to a near stand still, I realised he was not looking for help, but appeared crazed and he tried to enter my car and banged on the passenger door but I drove off, having steered around him.

‘(I) also noticed what appeared to be a motorcycle helmet laying on the road surface with other damaged parts of a vehicle.

‘The car in front of me – previously 20 seconds ahead – was a white Mercedes coupe... which had stopped further down the road and the driver was inspecting his vehicle for damage.

‘It was my brief conclusion that the man was deliberately jumping out on vehicles and causing them to crash.’

Hampshire police were called out to deal with a crash, and ambulance crews took a man in his 20s to hospital.

A Hampshire police spokeswoman said: ‘Police were called by the ambulance service just after 4am today (14 September) to what was believed to be the scene of a collision on Western Road. No vehicles were at the scene, only what appeared to be debris in the road.

‘A short time later, a damaged vehicle (the red Polo) was found in a nearby layby.

‘A man, aged in his 20s, was taken to hospital following concerns for his welfare.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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