A MOTORIST has described the moment she realised the shape flying over the traffic on a main road was a man who had just been hit by a police car, driven by an officer from Stourbridge.

Melanie Parker told Warwick Crown Court she was driving home in her Ford Ka on the outbound carriageway of the A34 New Town Row, Birmingham, at around 7pm on April 4 2012, doing 30mph in the middle lane, with a bus lane to her left.

She was looking ahead to see what colour the lights at the crossing were, so she could adjust her speed if necessary, explaining: “I regularly travel that way. I know there are two sets of traffic lights, and am aware they’re likely to change.”

Miss Parker agreed with Brian Dean, defending, that she was anticipating the lights might change, and when they did she would have carried on her way if there had not been the collision.

Asked if she was aware of someone on the crossing, she said: “I was in lane two, and the road ahead of me at the time was clear and I was doing approximately 30.

“I remember looking in my front mirror, and I remember noticing this black BMW coming into lane one at a very fast pace.

“Unbeknown to me at the time, because I can’t recall hearing a siren or seeing any blue lights, it was a police car.

“It was only when it was next to me that I recall the lights, which were blue and red, and hearing the siren.

“My initial thoughts were ‘what the hell is this person doing?’ before realising it was a police car.”

The court heard the unmarked police BMW was being driven by Pc Lowe - a traffic officer from Stourbridge, based at the West Midlands Police traffic unit in Aston.

Miss Parker said because she then realised it was a police car, she moved out slightly, and it went past her on the inside before pulling out into her lane and then into the outside lane.

She added: "I remember looking ahead now, expecting the lights to change. As I was looking up my first memory was thinking ‘Oh my God, is that a big bird?’ “Realising then that it was not a bird, it was a person rotating above the traffic.”

Asked if she had seen anyone at the crossing, Miss Parker replied: “No, in my view I was too far away. The only time I saw someone was this person doing three rotations in the air.”

The pedestrian, 24-year-old Zhang Xuan Wei, a student at Birmingham City University, was hit at 50mp as he dashed onto the crossing as the 'green man' was flashing, the court heard, and he died of his devastating injuries in hospital the following day.

Pc Lowe has pleaded not guilty to causing Wei’s death by careless driving.

The trial continues.