Couple killed in Glenrothes crash ‘flew through the air’
Grandparents Harry and Shirley Taggerty were pronounced dead at the scene
A police officer has told a court the “traumatic” moment he saw a car drive up the pavement and hit a couple who were “flying through the air”.
Grandparents Harry and Shirley Taggerty were pronounced dead shortly after the accident in Glenrothes on 13 July 2019.
PC Joseph Archer was driving a van with a colleague when he noticed a car on the other side of the A911 “swerving” onto his road.
Liam McQuatt denies a charge of causing their death by driving dangerously.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard on Tuesday that the pair fell down a roadside embankment after the collision.
Police officers found the car that hit them overturned nearby.
PC Archer, 57, said: “I could see the car far ahead of us and it started to swerve into our path.
“I could see the car moving very fast. It went straight onto the sidewalk. It hit two pedestrians who were walking on that sidewalk.
“The pedestrian flew through the air into a bush area and the vehicle rose into the air and overturned.”
Help paramedics
PC Archer told the court he went to the husband and wife, aged 61 and 58, to assess their condition.
“I found no sign of life,” he told the court.
The police officer told the court that an off-duty paramedic came to assist and asked him for help.
“I said can we do anything and he said no there isn’t,” PC Archer said.
He then went to the overturned car and found a man inside “sitting on the roof,” he told the court.
The police officer told the court: “I asked him what his name was. He said his name was Liam. I asked him if he was in the car himself. He said he was.”
“He was talking to me well. He probably had a mark on his cheek. He was talking well. He said he was on holiday and was asking where his phone was.”
PC Archer said he later helped Liam to the road leading to the ambulance that had been called for him and was waiting at the side of the road.
He said the incident was “very tragic and very painful.”
The jury also heard that Mr McWatt provided a “negative” breath sample and that “no defects” were found in his car that “could have caused or contributed” to the collision.
The Crown alleges he drove while using a mobile phone, drove at excessive speed and entered the oncoming lane while it was “unsafe to do so”.
The trial continues before Judge Lord Scott.
