03 February 2025 , 22:37
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A footballer has been put into an induced coma after he was hit by a car on the M27’s hard shoulder after stopping to change a tyre, his club said.
Jordan Chiedozie, who plays for Southern League club Bashley, was returning from a match with the club’s physio on Saturday when they stopped between junction 2 at Ower and junction 3 eastbound.
Their VW Golf was hit at about 22:30 GMT and a 44-year-old Berkshire woman was arrested on suspicion of driving a motor vehicle above the legal alcohol limit and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Bashley’s manager David Lewis said the club had been left "completely stunned" and that Chiedozie’s teammates were "in bits".
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said on Sunday Chiedozie suffered "life-changing and potentially life-threatening injuries", and the club said that includes broken bones and "other physical injuries".
Chiedozie, 30, who started his career at Bournemouth, was returning to Hampshire with physio Reighan Taylor, after Bashley played Tavistock.
The club said in a statement that she was not injured but "obviously has suffered severe trauma".
"She was able to use her skills to provide immediate - although in such circumstances very basic - first aid to Jordan at the scene," it added.
"Our Bashley football family are heartbroken by this news and still trying to come to terms with the tragic events that occurred after our game on Saturday," Bashley’s chairman, Steve Lewis, said.
"We are all together in wishing Jordan and Reighan the deepest of love and well wishes."
The club’s scheduled home match against Thatcham Town has been postponed.
The arrested woman, who is from Wraysbury, was driving a silver Mercedes SLK, police said.