A 57-year-old pedestrian was killed when an out-of-control BMW careened onto a pedestrian street and ran him over. The driver had been rushing his daughter to hospital.

The accident occurred in the north of Spain, in Bilbao last Sunday, not far from the hospital that the father was desperately trying to reach.

The police immediately breathalysed him, which gave a negative reading. Nevertheless, he was arrested for dangerous driving and manslaughter.

It was late in the afternoon and the pedestrian street was crowded, it being a Sunday. The black BMW first hit a lamppost, then a raised garden, bouncing over it and slamming down onto the street. The victim had no time to react and was swept before it. The car ended up taking out several metres of railing, which it left bent like an accordion.

Eyewitnesses said how the victim, who was walking with two companions, was left lying on the ground with serious injuries to the head. His two companions had narrowly managed to escape being hit. In fact, it is amazing that more people weren’t at least injured as there were so many people strolling along the paseo at the time.

Medical staff rushed from the nearby hospital (as can be seen in the accompanying photo) but the man had been killed instantly by the impact and nothing could be done for him.

When the police arrived, several people told them that the driver had grabbed his young daughter out of the back and run off to the hospital with her in his arms. His wife had remained in the car with cuts to her head and other parts of the body. The police later found the father inside the hospital and arrested him.

There is no news on what was wrong with the daughter nor what happened to her.

(News: Bilbao, Pais Vasco)