London Evening Standard
London
A woman and her eight-year-old grandson were left for dead by a hit-and-run driver who mowed into them on the pavement during a police chase.
The pair, thought to be returning home after the school pick-up, were thrown across the bonnet of the Ford Mondeo and hurled several feet through the air.
It is believed the grandmother, in her fifties, scooped the boy into her arms as they were hit, shielding him from the full impact.
Other parents and children walking home scattered in terror as the car careered further down the road in Tottenham for 100 yards before colliding with a garden wall.
The driver reversed at high speed, hitting the south stand wall of Tottenham Hotspur’s White Hart Lane stadium. The occupants abandoned the wrecked car and fled on foot. The two casualties were taken to hospital and treated for multiple injuries.
Witness Sarah Parker, a 30-year-old lawyer, said: “The car came around the corner at great speed and hit a lady and boy walking together. They went in the air then came down.
“The car lost control, hit a wall, then a guy got out and ran off with two police chasing after him on foot.
“It was school home-time and there were lots of people on the street. A big crowd gathered. People tried to help and everybody was shocked.
“The lady looked worse off than the boy. His arm was moving and he was blinking his eyes. She was motionless and there was blood on her head.”
Witnesses said the car mounted the kerb and was driving along the pavement when it hit the pair.
Police launched the pursuit at 3.50pm on Wednesday when the Mondeo failed to stop after triggering an alert on an automatic number plate recognition camera. The car took off at high speed, said witnesses, before striking the two pedestrians.
The boy is believed to be a pupil at Lea Valley Primary School. Officers halted the pursuit to tend to him and his grandmother. Paramedics cut away her clothes and put her in a neck brace. Two female relatives arrived in tears and went with the casualties by ambulance to hospital.
It is believed the grandmother was more seriously hurt but Scotland Yard said neither victim appeared to have life-threatening injuries.
The Met said the directorate of professional standards has been told as a matter of routine. There have been no arrests over the crash and police inquiries continue.
