Video shows altercation before and the hit-run crash outside Royal Family Hotel at Port Elliot

Harrowing new footage of the moment a car reverses into a group of people outside a Port Elliot pub has emerged, showing a violent confrontation before the hit-run crash.

Harrowing new footage of the moment a car reverses into a group of people outside a Port Elliott pub has emerged, showing a violent confrontation before the hit-run crash.

The footage, shot from a balcony near the Royal Family Hotel in the early hours of Saturday morning, shows a group of four men following the car’s driver, who opens the driver’s side door of the blue Ford hatchback and attempts to get in.

One of the group of men then appears to push the driver into the car as he’s entering the door, before at least three men start punching and kicking the car as it drives off. None of the group have been charged.

The car then drives about 20m up the street before coming to a halt and then violently reversing directly into a group of people standing outside the pub.

Afterwards, the car lunges forward and speeds off down the road.

The video shows an altercation between a group and the driver of the car before the crash. Picture: Supplied

The car is kicked and punched during the incident. Picture: Supplied

The incident left a good Samaritan bottle shop employee, a 22-year-old Hindmarsh Island man, suffering leg and head injuries after he reportedly stepped in to break up the fight.

The man was flown to Royal Adelaide Hospital with serious life-threatening injuries where he underwent surgery on Saturday morning.

Four other people, including Gidget Whibley, 20, from Inman Valley and her friends – a 21-year-old Goolwa Beach man, a 37-year-old Port Elliott woman and a 30-year-old Blackwood man – were also injured.

Ms Whibley told The Advertiser she was grateful to be alive and “it could have been so much worse”.

A man suffered serious, life-threatening injuries in the crash. Picture: Gary Juleff

Emergency services at the scene early on Saturday morning. Picture: Gary Juleff

The cafe worker said her group of friends had left the pub just after 1.30am when the driver started doing “skids” on the road.

“Some of the boys yelled out stuff like, ‘stop being a flog’, just trying to get him to stop,” she said.

“He got out of the car and ran to one of the boys … he just went off and some of the others retaliated, and then a fight broke out in the middle of the street between the bakery and the pub.”

Following the altercation, Ms Whibley said the driver got back into the car and appeared to be driving away.

“Then he started going the other way and I couldn’t remember what happened next – it was all just a blur,” she said.

“I remember getting up off the ground and thinking, ‘Can I feel anything? Am I breathing?’ But nothing was broken.

“We were all pretty traumatised. We were just baffled that we were all alive.”

CCTV footage captured by a next-door business shows the driver of the blue Ford hatchback pulling up to the hotel at 1.40am.

The car involved in the incident at Port Elliot. Picture: SA Police

The car lingers for five minutes with its lights on before a group of people enter the frame and appear to surround the vehicle.

The car slowly drives forward with the group following it, exiting the frame briefly, before the people appear to be knocked back in the opposite direction.

Inspector Gene Vaninetti said “there was clearly an altercation that occurred” but what happened afterwards remains unclear.

“There were a large amount of people at the premises last night, so we’re still trying to link together who is associated with who,” Inspector Vaninetti said.

“The pub had just closed, last drinks had been called, hence why the patrons had spilled out onto the road and hence were waiting out the front to go home.”

Inspector Vaninetti said it was unclear whether alcohol consumption played a role.

The vehicle believed to be involved in the crash was later found nearby on Sturt St.

The alleged driver, a 37-year-old NSW man, has been charged with causing harm by dangerous driving, due care and leaving the scene of a crash. No other charges have been laid.

The charged man was refused bail and will appear before the Christies Beach Magistrates Court on Tuesday, October 8.