{"id":343473,"date":"2025-12-30T21:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T21:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/343473\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T21:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T21:13:10","slug":"third-man-arrested-after-pedestrian-dies-in-gillingham-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/343473\/","title":{"rendered":"Third man arrested after pedestrian dies in Gillingham crash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jacob Panons,South Eastand<\/p>\n<p>Zac Sherratt,South East<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766238669_168_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fd5a8600-e5a8-11f0-b84b-6d40b6925787.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Getty Images Back of tour high-vis police vests reading the words POLICE in white letting on a dark blue background.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>A third person has been arrested in connection with the death on a man in his 80s<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Three men have been arrested after a pedestrian in his 80s died after being hit by a car and carried on top of it for as much as a mile.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Kent Police said the man was struck by a grey Mercedes estate on the A289 Gads Hill, in Gillingham, on Monday and carried for an unspecified distance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">A postman is said to have found the man&#8217;s body in Grange Road before the vehicle was later discovered in Eastcourt Lane.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">A man, 29, from Chatham, and another man, 28, of no fixed address, were arrested the same day. On Tuesday, a third man, 28, from Edgware in north-west London, was also arrested in connection with the incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Police said the two occupants of the Mercedes had fled on foot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Ralph Belmonte, a resident of Grange Road for 47 years, said a postman discovered the body on the road after having mistaken it for a dummy strapped to the roof of a driving car.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;It was only on his return to drop the rest of the mail off that he saw [the body] on the road and approached it thinking that it might have been a dummy and it could create a problem, an accident,&#8221; Mr Belmonte said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;And as he went to turn it over, he realised it was actually a body.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He added: &#8220;It&#8217;s as safe as anybody&#8217;s area really, until something like this happens, you know \u2013 everything&#8217;s safe until becomes unsafe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;It&#8217;s not an area known for high crime rate, but it can happen anywhere.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Witness appeal<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Detectives investigating the crash released CCTV images which showed two hooded men dressed in dark clothing on a pavement on foot, with one appearing to be running while carrying a number plate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">South East Coast Ambulance Service paramedics treated the pedestrian at the scene but he later died, a spokesperson said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Det Insp Zoe Wilczek, of Kent Police&#8217;s serious collision investigation unit, said the force was continuing to appeal for witnesses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;We would like to thank all those who have assisted our investigation so far,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;We are urging anyone who witnessed the incident, or saw the vehicle or pedestrian prior to the collision, to contact us.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;We&#8217;re also asking anyone who may have caught any part of the incident on their dashcams and CCTV, and has not yet got in touch with us, to do so.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jacob Panons,South Eastand Zac Sherratt,South East Getty Images A third person has been arrested in connection with the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-343473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}