A schoolgirl who was about to sit her GCSE exams was killed crossing a road when she was struck and hurled 50ft through the air by a police car travelling at high speed.

Police appealed for calm yesterday as angry protests followed the death of Hayley Adamson, 16. She was crossing a main road in Newcastle upon Tyne with six friends when she was hit by the marked police car at 11.20pm on Monday.

Witnesses have made unconfirmed claims that it was one of two Northumbria Police cars that appeared to be racing each other immediately before the fatal accident. The driver, who was alone in the car that struck Hayley, is believed to have been looking for a stolen vehicle.

Friends of the dead girl said that they saw two police cars being driven at high speed and that neither was displaying flashing blue lights or a siren. Two witnesses have also claimed that the car which hit the girl, a Volvo T5 patrol car, did not have its headlights switched on.

The impact of the collision, which is under investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), sent the teenager flying into the air. She hit the ground some distance away, dying instantly. The officers were surrounded by an angry group of young people immediately after the crash, on Denton Road in the north west of the city. Bricks and stones were thrown and nearby windows were smashed.

Police were forced to call for support and one officer fired a Taser stun gun at Hayley’s former boyfriend, George Oliver, 23, who saw the crash and was said to have been remonstrating with officers. He was one of several people arrested at the scene, which remained sealed off yesterday.

David Forrest, 20, said that two police cars “came out of nowhere”. “There were seven of us and we were about to cross the road. I was at the front of the group and as I looked both ways I could not see any vehicles coming,” he said.

“Hayley was right behind me, but when I crossed the road I heard an almighty bang. I turned round to look and a police car had hit her and thrown her about 50ft . I knew straight away that she was dead. No one could have survived that.”

Shannon Thorpe, 13, who saw the accident, said that she stayed on the pavement while Hayley crossed the road.

Speaking with her mother’s permission, she said: “The police car ploughed into her, sending her flying into the air. She let out a terrible scream. The police car skidded and came to a stop and then turned on its headlights and blue flashing lights.”

Another witness, Chris Broatch, 23, said that he saw the driver of the collision car climb out. “He was saying, ‘It’s all my fault’, and holding his hands up in the air.”

An IPCC spokesman said that it would be carrying out an investigation into both the collision and the confrontation that followed. He said that the driver of the police car had been responding to his car’s automatic numberplate recognition system.

The spokesman confirmed that the IPCC was aware of claims that there had been two police cars close to each other and that the vehicle involved in the collision was not using its headlights.

The suggestion that they were together immediately before the accident “does not fit in with the acount we have been given”.

Key evidence was likely to be obtained from the Volvo’s in-car computer “black box”, which was expected to show whether the headlights and emergency warning equipment were switched on.

Hayley was a pupil at Sacred Heart High School, in Newcastle. Patricia Wager, the head teacher, described her as “a happy, popular and fun-loving student”.

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