Merseyside Police have confirmed that the 53-year-old white male they apprehended at the Liverpool title parade is being held on suspicion of drug driving, attempted murder and dangerous driving.

Hundreds of thousands of Reds fans lined the streets of the city on Monday to celebrate their club winning the Premier League.

But the jubilant scenes took a terrifying turn when a Ford Galaxy mowed down a crowd on Water Street at around 6pm (BST).



At a press conference held on Tuesday, authorities released new information about the suspected driver to the public.

Man arrested for attempted murder and drug driving after Liverpool parade crash	Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk responds to trophy parade crash that left 65 injured - with suspect, 53, accused of attempted murder and drug-driving	Football news LIVE: Liverpool parade latest as man arrested for attempted murder, dangerous driving and drug offences

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DCS Karen Jaundrill said: "I want to assure the public of Merseyside that detectives are making significant progress as we seek to establish the full circumstances that led to this awful incident, and bring the person responsible to justice.

"We have arrested a 53-year-old man from West Derby on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving offences, and driving whilst unfit through drugs.

In addition, extensive CCTV requirements are being carried out to establish the movements of the car before the incident took place."

Merseyside Police also said that they believe the car was able to drive down a closed road by following an ambulance when a roadblock was temporarily lifted.

They added that all of the 11 casualties still in hospital are 'stable' and 'appear to be recovering well', while reiterating that the incident is not being treated as an act of terrorism.

Authorities took the 'unprecedented' decision to release the ethnicity of the suspected driver soon after the incident took place.

Last year, false rumours were spread indicating that the Southport murders were perpetrated by an extremist migrant, sparking riots in the streets.

Former Metropolitan Police chief superintendent Dal Babu told BBC Radio 5 Live: "What we do have, which is unprecedented, is the police very quickly giving the ethnicity and the race of the person who was driving the vehicle.

"So I think what the police have done very, very quickly, and I’ve never known a case like this before where they’ve given the ethnicity and the race of the individual who was involved in it, I think that was to dampen down some of the speculation from the far-right."