Teen died after stepping in front of car without looking outside Prodigy gig at Sheffield Arena

A teenager died after stepping in front of a car without looking as he left a gig at Sheffield Arena early, an inquest heard.
Louis BoothLouis Booth
Louis Booth

Apprentice engineer Louis Booth, aged 19, was leaving a show by The Prodigy when he was fatally injured following a collision with a car on Broughton Lane at around 9.15pm on November 28 last year.

The Rotherham teenager, who worked at Sheffield firm Chapmans Agricultural, sustained fatal head injuries after being hit by an Audi A3 car driven by a man called Thomas Mitchell, whose five-year-old son was travelling in the vehicle with him at the time.

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Mr Booth was taken to the Northern General Hospital while unconscious but tests revealed he could not be recover from his injuries and he died the following day.

An inquest at the Medico-Legal Centre in Sheffield ruled there was no fault on the part of Mr Mitchell, who had been travelling at the speed limit and had attempted to avoid hitting Mr Booth after he stepped out in front of his car.

In a statement read to the hearing, Mr Mitchell said: “I didn’t see him look towards me. I didn’t see him until he stepped from the pavement.”

The inquest heard Mr Booth had been almost three times over the drink-drive limit at the time of his death and had left the arena after security guards took him outside.

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Susan Rigby, a security supervisor at the arena, said she had seen Mr Booth in an apparently drunk state in the arena concourse and when she attempted to speak to him, he made a ‘dash’ towards the show’s standing area.

She said he was taken outside not to be ejected but to assess whether he was ok. She said instead of talking to the security staff outside, Mr Booth ‘just walked off’ down the arena steps and towards the road.

Neil Morrell, from South Yorkshire Police’s Serious Collisions Unit, said there was nothing to suggest Mr Mitchell ‘was driving in anything other than the proper manner’ or that the arena staff had done anything wrong.

Coroner Louise Slater said: “There is nothing to suggest the actions or inactions of the driver caused or contributed to Louis’ injuries or death.

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“I do accept the car was there to be seen by Louis. He did have a clear and unobstructed view of the road had he looked.”

She ruled Mr Booth died as a result of the injuries he suffered in a road traffic collision and that his level of alcohol intoxication had contributed to but not directly caused his death.

She told his family members who attended the hearing: “There is nothing I can say that will make up for you missing Louis.

“He was only a 19-year-old lad about to start a very promising and fulfilling life.

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“I can’t imagine what it is like what you are going through. Please accept my sincere condolences.”

Speaking after the hearing, Mr Booth’s father Tim said his son was a promising star of the business he worked for and was missed by many people.