FLOWERS have been left at the scene of a tragic death of a man in Taunton who teenagers frantically fought to save.

Loved ones have left the message ‘RIP Dean’ with the flowers outside the Kwik Fit car servicing and tyre centre off Priory Bridge Road – where the man died in the early hours of Tuesday, April 3.

A young woman has told how she and her friends frantically fought in a vain attempt to save the life of a  52-year-old man who had collapsed.

A member of the group performed CPR as an ambulance service control centre operator gave instructions over the phone.

Somerset County Gazette:

Despite their best efforts, the man was already dead by the time paramedics arrived. Police are not treating the death as suspicious and have informed the coroner, who will hold an inquest in due course.

Naomi Hurricks, 19, of Victoria Gate, who works in the M&S store at Musgrove Park Hospital, told how she and six friends noticed the man and another man outside Kwik Fit as they walked past late on Monday night. She said: “We thought they were sleeping, but when we walked by about an hour later, one of them had gone.


READ MORE: Man dies suddenly in Priory Bridge Road, Taunton


“We checked on the man who was still there. He had a slight pulse but was unresponsive.

“We phoned 999 and one of the lads, Dylan, did CPR. He was doing what the ambulance people told him. He was saying, ‘stay with me’.

“But by the time paramedics arrived, the man had already gone. They tried to revive him, but it was no good. It was quite a shock for all of us. It’s still sinking in. It’s something I’m never going to forget.”

Somerset County Gazette:

Chantel West wrote on Facebook: “Never have I been so upset coming across someone I didn’t know in the way he was in. Still can’t believe this has happened. Thank you to the paramedics who did all they can to try and save him, you really are amazing people.”

An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said: “We were called by the ambulance service to a report of a man found unresponsive on Priory Bridge Road just before 12.40am on Tuesday, April 3.

The man sadly died at the scene. The death is not being treated as suspicious and is being referred to the coroner.”

A South Western Ambulance Service spokesman confirmed it attended the incident.