A TEENAGER has spoken for the first time after he was seriously injured in a car crash that killed his best friend.
Alex Farrell’s life was devastated after the crash which saw the car he was travelling in reach speeds of 80mph following a police chase.
Driver Jordan Cox lost control of his Peugeot 106 and it careered over a stone wall and severed a tree trunk before landing in a garden at a farm on Otley Old Road, in Leeds.
Alex’s best friend Matthew Norman, 18, of Horsforth, was killed and Jordan Cox sustained a serious brain injury.
The YEP earlier reported that Leeds Crown Court heard that Cox, 18, of Allerton Bywater, was unfit to stand trial for causing death by dangerous driving because of the serious brain injuries he suffered.
Alex, 19, of Horsforth, snapped his spine in two places.
He also suffered three fractured ribs, a dislocated jaw, broken nose and lacerations to his face and legs.
The teenager said: “Although the trial was able to bring closure for me, my family, and Matthew’s family to some extent, the effects of the accident are ongoing.
“I hope that I continue to improve and can get my life back on track sometime soon.”
Alex pleaded with the driver to slow down and let him out of the car before the crash in January last year.
The teenager was forced to leave his job as a labourer because of his injuries and is now undergoing a programme of physiotherapy and psychotherapy.
Serious injury experts at law firm Irwin Mitchell have secured initial interim funds to help with his recovery.
Solicitor Nicola Perrott said: “Alex has been very determined and is making progress in his recovery to date, but his life has changed dramatically.
“His terrible injuries resulted in him leaving a job that he loved and he is very motivated to return to work. His physical limitations mean that his options are limited now.
“Alex has suffered from flashbacks and from travel anxieties after being involved in the crash and losing his best friend. Nothing can bring Matthew back, nor erase the crash and its aftermath from Alex’s memory.”
Comments