A TEENAGER who died after a high-speed police chase called a friend for help moments before his car crashed, an inquest heard.

Craig Gauntlett, 19, from Barming, near Maidstone, died in hospital hours after his Ford Granada overturned at a mini roundabout at Holding Street on the A2 in Rainham. The inquest heard that Mr Gauntlett called a friend for help on his mobile phone as he went through three red lights in Gillingham and Rainham with a police car following him.

Mr Gauntlett's old school friend, Alan Baldwin, said Craig called him on his mobile phone. He said: "Craig said 'What can I do, I'm being chased. What can I do?'.

"I told him the best thing for him to do was stop. Then the phone just stopped."

Mr Gauntlett had been out with friends at Bar Rio in Featherby Road, Gillingham, on Friday, October 12, last year.

The jury at the opening day of an inquest into his death being held in Maidstone heard that Mr Gauntlett sped off from the club "like a bat out of hell" after getting into a fight.

Alastair Berwick told the inquest he had never seen his friend so angry. He told him to wait in the car while he fetched their other friend, but, when he returned, a doorman said Mr Gauntlett had gone.

Door steward Royston Ingram tried to calm Mr Gauntlett after he claimed he had been hit by "some black fellows."

He said Mr Gauntlett told him he was going to wait outside and slit the man's throat.

A friend told him to go and calm down, but moments later Mr Ingram saw the Ford Granada drive off, hitting a kerb as it left the club.

Police received several calls from concerned motorists who saw Mr Gauntlett's car being driven erratically along the A2. Rochester police officers, Barry Watson and Keith Patterson, spotted the car parked at JB Fruits on the Gillingham Business Park. PC Watson tried to grab his car keys but Mr Gauntlett drove off.

Mr Gauntlett pulled up in a bus layby just before the Tesco roundabout, and then sped off again as PC Watson approached on foot.

The police followed Mr Gauntlett's car at speeds of up to 90mph. They were told to back off by control just before Mr Gauntlett's car crashed.

Both officers and several other policemen who arrived on the scene helped right Mr Gauntlett's car, which turned on to its side in the crash. Mr Gauntlett was lying in the foot well of the passenger seat and the officers moved him on to the pavement.

PCs Watson and Patterson told the inquest there was smoke coming from Mr Gauntlett's car. They said they had to get him out because they feared for his safety.

Solicitor Amanda Gibbs, who represented the Gauntlett family at the inquest, said: "You will appreciate the particular action of righting the car and taking Craig out of the car are two things that concern Craig's family the most.

"Did you think of the consequences of the car being righted and the trauma to Craig and the injuries he sustained from the initial crash and what that would do to him."

PC Watson told the inquest he would have done the same thing again in the same situation. He added: "When I saw the smoke coming out my concerns were that the vehicle may explode. There wasn't a choice to make. My thoughts were that he had to be removed, he had to be removed."

The inquest is expected to last four days.