An innocent motorist who suffered a broken neck and back when a hit-and-run driver being chased by police crashed at 100mph is suing for compensation.
Hallo Karimi, 36, was on his way home from work when his car was smashed into by a BMW attempting to evade police capture.
Mr Karimi, a manager at delivery company Getir, woke up in agonising pain as police and firefighters attempted to cut him free from the wreckage of his vehicle.
Doctors called it a “miracle” that he survived the crash, he says, while he spent eight days in hospital recovering from fractures to his spine, neck, wrists, collarbone and ribs.
Mr Karimi says he lost his job and home in the aftermath of the incident, on October 19 last year, and was driven in depression to make an attempt on his own life.
He has now hired specialist personal injury lawyers at Osbornes Law to seek compensation from insurance company Aviva.
“The crash has devastated my life and I don’t know what the future holds. My body is broken and I don’t know what will happen to me”, he said.
“I had a nice life, good job managing 60 people and a nice house, but that all changed the night I was hit by a man trying to escape the police.
“I was told I was lucky to be alive but I have lost everything and I felt so low that I tried to take my own life.
“I struggle to walk, can’t work and at that point I was in so much pain and didn’t think my life was worth living.”
The crash happened at just after 12.30am on October 19 last year, as the BMW was chased by police along Honeypot Lane in Stanmore, north London.
Mr Karimi had just passed through a green traffic light when his and another vehicle were hit, and he was knocked unconscious at the wheel.
“I woke to find police around me and firefighters cutting me out of my car”, he said.
“I was screaming in agony as every part of my body was in pain. I heard the officers say that the driver who hit me was traveling at 110mph. At hospital, doctors said it was a miracle that I survived.”
The hit-and-run driver fled the scene and has not yet been caught.
Mr Karimi said he took an overdose while on the phone to Victim Support, when he feared being paralysed and “felt like my life was hopeless”.
He says he could no longer afford the rent on his house, and now lives in a studio flat with no windows.
“In an instant my client’s life was changed forever”, said Nicola Hall, Mr Karimi’s representative at Osbornes Law.
“Through no fault of his own he suffered devastating injuries simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I hope we are able to settle this case quickly for him so he can get the compensation he needs to help rebuild his life.”
A claim against Aviva has now been filed. The company has been contacted for comment.
