October 8th 2023.
Brave parents of a teen girl who was tragically killed in a car accident have called on everyone to watch the harrowing footage in order to prevent another tragedy.
Phoebe Johnson, 17, was a passenger in a Seat Leon that was being driven by Melissa Keilloh, now 20, who admitted that she was ‘100%’ too drunk to drive in October 2021. The crash happened on the A514 near Derby, just two weeks before Phoebe's birthday, when Keilloh lost control of the car after clipping the kerb at 70mph in a 60mph zone.
Phoebe was thrown from the car, and when Keilloh found her body by a hedge, she screamed ‘I’ve killed Phoebe’. The crash and her harrowing screams were caught on her dashcam. Keilloh has been sentenced to three years in prison and is disqualified from driving for six-and-a-half years after admitting to causing death by dangerous driving while over the alcohol limit.
In an effort to prevent others from making the same, potentially fatal, mistake, Phoebe’s parents, Paul and Nicola, have released the footage leading up to the crash. Nicola said: ‘Life can be taken from you in just a heartbeat. When I did go round [to see her in the hospital] I just held her hand and I didn’t want to leave. It just drains everything from you, everything is just an effort and you wonder how long I have to go through this pain for. It’s had such a massive impact not just on us and our families but friends and the wider community. You don’t realise until you’re actually going through it what impact it has on everything. I’d say to parents never stop fussing and to youngsters – please listen and please look after yourselves.’
The footage captures the moments leading up to the crash, starting with Keilloh being asked ‘Do you feel like you are going to put our lives in danger?’ as they left the house party. Keilloh replied: ‘100%. I’m f****d.’ The footage then shows the car dangerously overtaking cars along dark country lanes while listening to loud dance music and the disturbing moment she lost control 15 minutes later, capturing the girl’s screams and the screeching of the brakes as Keilloh crashed.
Nicola recalled the moment police officers came to their door and rushed them to Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre. She said: ‘It was about 1am, I heard the sirens. It was one of them where I thought, “Did I hear that or was I dreaming?” And then I saw the blue lights coming through the curtains, followed by hammering on the door. I got out of bed and looked out the window, there were torches flashing up at us. They said to me “your daughter has been in an accident and she’s really poorly,” and they got us there very quickly. I knew she must’ve been poorly by how they had come to get us but I still didn’t imagine that would be the outcome.’
Her husband Paul added: ‘It was like a runaway train nobody could get off. But she should have said “I’m not getting in the car”. The driver did say she was still drunk to drive, but she did it anyway. It was stupid, knowing she had been drinking to get in the car. Just don’t get in a car, if the driver has been drinking. Even if they’ve had one.’
Paul and Nicola hope that by sharing the footage, they can help others understand the devastating consequences of drinking and driving in order to save lives.
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