Anna Certowicz: Mom of car crash victim Sophie Russon says she looked for daughter herself as cops refused to help
CARDIFF, WALES: Anna Certowicz, the mother of Sophie Russon, a victim of the South Wales car crash, claims that she had to go looking for her daughter herself after police refused to help her, insisting that she was 'probably out partying'.
Sophie Russon, along with her four friends, Darcy Ross, Rafel Jeanne, Eve Smith, and Shane Loughlin, got in a car crash. In a now-deleted video, the five friends were seen travelling in a white VW Tiguan after enjoying a night out at the Muffler nightclub in Newport, Wales, moments before their car crashed.
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'She and her friends are good girls'
Certowicz is furious with the police, claiming that they didn't take her seriously when she told them her daughter was missing after a night out on Friday, March 3. They refused to help her by saying that her daughter was 'probably out partying'.
In a conversation with the Mail Online, she said, "They didn't take it seriously, they kept saying she's 20 and they are all probably out partying. I told them my daughter doesn't go out on three day benders; she and her friends are good girls. It was out of character for all of them."
"I was ringing the police all through Saturday and Sunday, but they didn't seem bothered. Then, all of a sudden, I don't know what happened, but the police started ringing me, asking for a photograph and a description," she continued.
Ms. Certowicz added, "We all knew it was something serious, all their phones went offline at the same time. But the police didn't listen, they didn't want to know, it's disgraceful."
A parent's worst nightmare
Eventually, a police helicopter was launched to search for the missing five, but the car was found by a young woman out searching for the group. Certowicz said she and other parents were kept waiting for two hours at the scene where they could hear firemen cutting up the car to reach the victims inside.
She said, "No one came over to tell us what was going on; it's a parent's worst nightmare, but we didn't get any support. It wasn't even the helicopter that found them, even though it flew over a few times."
"It was one of the volunteer searchers with a dog; if she hadn't gone into the trees, they would still be there now", she added.
Sophie Russon's condition
Russon lay trapped for 48 hours next to the bodies of her three dead friends - Darcy Ross, Rafel Jeanne and Eve Smith. Certowicz also revealed that her daughter was conscious some of the time in the car after it ran off the A48 in Cardiff and had called out, but no one was close enough to hear her.
Russon was eventually found and is in critical condition in the hospital and is undergoing surgery for a bleed on the brain and fractures to her neck, spine, and face.