Third man arrested after pedestrian dies in Gillingham crash

Three men have been arrested after a pedestrian in his 80s died after being hit by a car and carried for nearly a mile.

Kent Police said the man was hit by a gray Mercedes off-road vehicle on the A289 Gads Hill in Gillingham on Monday and was carried an unspecified distance.

A postman is said to have found the man’s body in Grange Road before the vehicle was later found in Eastcourt Lane.

A 29-year-old man from Chatham and another 28-year-old man of an unknown address were arrested the same day. On Tuesday, a third man, a 28-year-old from Edgware, north-west London, was also arrested in connection with the incident.

Police said the two people in the Mercedes fled on foot.

Ralph Belmonte, a Grange Road resident for 47 years, said a postman found the body on the road after a dummy chest was strapped to the roof of a car.

“He only saw the rest of the mail when he got back [the body] “We approached him as we were driving down the road, thinking he might be a dummy and cause trouble, cause an accident,” Belmonte said.

“And when he went to turn it over, he realized it was actually a corpse.”

He added: “It’s basically as safe as anyone’s space is until something like this happens, you know; everything is safe until it becomes unsafe.

“This is not a high crime area, but it could happen anywhere.”

Detectives investigating the crash released CCTV footage showing two hooded men dressed in dark clothing walking on foot on the pavement, with one carrying a number plate and appearing to be running.

South East Coast Ambulance Service paramedics treated the pedestrian at the scene but he later died, a spokesman said.

Det Insp Zoe Wilczek, from Kent Police’s serious collision investigation unit, said police were continuing to appeal for witnesses.

“We would like to thank everyone who has helped our investigation so far.”

“We would appeal to anyone who witnessed the incident or saw the vehicle or pedestrian before the collision to contact us.

“We would also like to appeal to anyone who captured any part of the incident on their dashcam or CCTV and have not yet contacted us to do so.”