A force faces a probe from the police watchdog after CCTV video emerged of a police van following two boys on electric bicycles just moments before a fatal crash.
South Wales Police say they were not chasing best friends Kyrees Sullivan, 15, and Harvey Evans, 16, before the pair were hit by a bus near their homes in Ely, Cardiff.
Chief Superintendent Martyn Stone said the force received video of the alleged chase but claimed there were no police vehicles on the road at the time of the fatal collision last night.
The horrific crash sparked street riots with cars being torched, slabs of concrete thrown and multiple officers injured.
Despite the denial, the video appears to show Kyrees and Harvey speeding through Ely on their bike with a marked police van in hot pursuit.
Harvey’s relatives have viewed the 48-second clip and believe it is him on the bike near the scene of the crash.
The boys can be seen riding in security footage on their bike 5.59pm. Five seconds later, a police van is seen following behind him
The van was seen driving past at 5.59pm. South Wales Police say they were not chasing best friends Kyrees Sullivan, 15, and Harvey Evans, 16, before the pair were hit by a bus near their homes in Ely, Cardiff
Best friends Kyrees Sullivan, 15, and Harvey Evans, 16, (pictured together as youngsters) were knocked off their bikes by a vehicle near their homes on Snowden Road, in the deprived suburb of Ely at around 6pm on Monday
The video was filmed at 17.59pm on Monday night – police say the fatal crash happened ‘shortly after 6pm’.
Chief Stone told a press conference today: ‘We have received footage that shows a police vehicle following a bike at just prior to 6pm.
‘This footage is being recovered as part of the investigation and will assist us in piecing together the circumstances leading up to the collision. The families are being kept up to date.
‘We can confirm the following investigations have been carried out so far and when the collision occurred there were no police vehicles on Snowden Road.
‘A police vehicle on Grand Avenue responded to the collision, attended the area and officers performed CPR.’
Police have said a statement on whether the force had reported itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) would be disclosed later.
One woman neighbour said: ‘I saw the boys being chased by police shortly before 6pm – they were playing cat and mouse.
‘The boys know these roads really well so they were going around the estate probably trying to shake the police off.’
A man who helped to circulate the video on social media added: ‘If the police say they weren’t chasing the boys, what have they got to say about the video?
‘There’s two of them on the bike just before six o’clock – there would have to be two different lads on a single bike at the same time for it not to be Harvey and Kyrees.’
Locals believe the chase started at an area known as Birdies Lane which connects Ely to the neighbouring area of Fairwater.
Earlier a friend of the two boys claimed they were being picked on by a local officer who had used a police vehicle to ‘knock them off’ the electric bike they shared.
Other neighbours questioned the safety of a police van being used in a chase at 6pm on a busy housing estate while children are out of school.
Downing Street today said the carnage was ‘appalling and completely unacceptable’ (Pictured left, Kyrees Sullivan, while right, Harvey Evans)
The boy’s deaths triggered a night of carnage, which Downing Street today condemned as ‘appalling and completely unacceptable’, adding: ‘We remain grateful to the emergency services and first responders for all their support to the community and restoring order.’
Meanwhile, speaking in the Senedd about the incident, Jane Hutt, minister for social justice in Wales, said more arrests are expected.
She added: ‘But clearly this is something where our thoughts are also with the community, such a warm and strong community.’
The area is being cleared up today after up to 150 thugs – many in balaclavas – torched and smashed cars and hurled paving slabs and fireworks at police, injuring 12 officers.
Grieving mother Belinda Sullivan, 42, called for calm after anger erupted on the streets.
She said she was stopped from seeing her son’s body on the housing estate after crowds gathered in the street to attack police with petrol bombs and rocks.
She wrote: ‘My son is still laying on the floor due to this riot I’m sat at home heart broken there are two familys broken right now.
‘I just want to see my son and I can’t because of this riot that have happened pls I beg you all to stop and let my son be moved to hospital so I can see him we need to see our sons.’ [sic]
An overturned, burned out car today, after overnight riots in the Ely area of Cardiff
Locals survey the scene on Snowden Road in the deprived suburb of Ely
The pair were known for riding the electric motorbike around the streets even though there had been a clampdown on illegal riding.
Harvey’s godmother said he had his haircut and had eaten his dinner with his mother Nadine just 10 minutes before he died alongside his ‘best friend’ while riding together on a £4,000 Sur-Ron electric bike.
Bridy Bool said the youngster ‘loved motorbikes, bikes and football’ – and had done nothing to spark what she described as a police chase.
She said: ‘The poor boy was laying there until 2.40am – they have taken his body and they won’t tell anybody where he is.
‘We don’t know what hospital he was taken to or nothing. His mother is going to send herself into a frenzy as she doesn’t know where her son is.
She added: ‘They just left their mums’ houses, they had just had their tea.
‘He had just had his dinner. He had left his mum’s house for 10 minutes and this happened. He had been home all day with his mum.
‘He had his haircut, come home, had his food and this has happened and he was bare-faced he wasn’t balaclava-ed up.
‘These poor families, they were bare-faced innocent children.’
She said the families had no support and that family liaison officers still had not attended the parents’ home because of fears over the riots.
‘They haven’t been told nothing of the incident they have been left in the dark. The police haven’t confirmed his identity, no one has been told nothing.’
She said her godson was a ‘typical young boy who loved socialising’.
Speaking to MailOnline, friends of the two boys said they were ‘motorbike heads’ who had grown up together on the tough estate in the west of Cardiff (Pictured: Harvey Evans)
Violence quickly erupted following false social media rumours of a police chase being behind the deaths, with riot officers sent in to quell the disturbance and make arrests. (Pictured: Kyrees Jordan Sullivan with his mother Belinda)
She added: ‘He was a social butterfly, loved his motorbikes, loved bikes, loved his football. He was a typical 15-year-old.’
Speaking to MailOnline, friends of the two boys said they were ‘motorbike heads’ who had grown up together on the tough estate in the west of Cardiff.
One teenager said the pair had been involved in incidents with a local police officer who was picking on them.
John Silver, 19, said: ‘Kyrees and Harvey were best friends, they grew up together and always had bikes.
‘They started with cycles but they were on electric bikes when they were killed, just enjoying themselves.
‘They are legal but the police don’t like the boys on them. One officer in particular would try to run them off the road whenever he saw them.
‘The police say they weren’t chasing the boys but if that officer was in the area they would want to keep away from him.’
Mr Silver said the boys loved to ride off-road motorbikes on mud tracks alongside the Ely estate.
He added: ‘They were motorbike-heads but used electric bikes on the roads around their homes. They both had one.
‘They are legal, quite safe and don’t give off emissions. I don’t know why the police think they’re a problem.
‘Kyrees and Harvey were just young lads having some fun on their bikes. They were nice kids and not not causing any harm.’
Cardiff council workers try to sweep up the mess left by yobs
One worker clears bricks and paving slabs that were hurled at police
He added: ‘It was an electric bike, they often rode it together. I don’t know who it belonged to but it looked like a standard bike with pedals but it had an electric motor on it.’
Another Ely teenager, who did not want to be named, said: ‘People were saying the boys were being chased but I don’t think the police were after them.
‘It’s more that Kyrees and Harvey always have an eye out for the police because they’ve been deliberately knocked off their bikes by them in the past.
‘It went out on social media that the boys were being chased and it all kicked off from there.’
Plaid Cymru Senedd member for South Wales Central, Heledd Fychan, said: ‘My thoughts go out to the families of both teenagers that tragically lost their lives last night, and my thoughts are with the whole community as they rebuild.
‘There must now be a full investigation to understand how this tragic incident led to the violence that followed to ensure peace is restored and that this never happens again.’
One woman said that the area looked like a ‘warzone’ today, as teams of council workers tried to clear the road of debris.
