Geraldton Police investigate serious Karloo crash, 3yo critical after allegedly run over by white Hyundai

A three-year-old boy from Geraldton remains in a critical condition in Perth Children’s Hospital after a car ran over him and dragged him under the vehicle on a street in Karloo on Tuesday night. Officer-in-charge Sen. Sgt Chris Martin said police would allege at 6.09pm on Tuesday, March 14, a white Hyundai I30 drove into Aaron Close in Karloo and completed a U-turn at the end of the cul-de-sac. Sen. Sgt Martin said it was alleged the 46-year-old suspect began driving in a westerly direction on Aaron Close when a three-year-old sitting on the southern verge was struck by the Hyundai and believed to be dragged by the vehicle for an “undetermined period” before the vehicle stopped. It is unknown whether the driver reported the alleged accident, however Sen. Sgt Martin said the driver was assisting police with inquiries and “the circumstances as to the cause of the crash”. “I will say from the onset it appears to be an accident at this stage, there’s no indication of any deliberate actions or motive behind it,” he said. “Aaron Close is a dog-leg left for south-bound traffic entering Aaron Close from Assen Street. The road is sealed and the area is built up with houses on both sides.” A St John WA spokesperson said ambulance services took the three-year-old boy, who was in a critical condition, to Geraldton Regional Hospital by 6.18pm. At 1.40am, the boy was flown by the Royal Flying Doctors Service to Perth Children’s Hospital as a priority one. A witness who was at the scene said he put a pillow under the boy’s head when he found him on the ground so he “could rest his head”. “It’s dead wrong what happened, but something needs to be done, and if it’s not done more incidents like this can happen,” he said. “When I got to my fence I thought I could see an animal on the road but it was no animal, it was a child with severe injuries to his little body.” Another witness with five children inside the house at the time said children roamed the streets in the area frequently and it was “a tragedy”. “I had to let the school know this morning because the kids were devastated, they were in tears themselves,” she said. A third witness said he’d lived at the address for five years and had been “warning people to keep kids off the streets” and estimated hundreds of cars travelled down Assen Street each day. “You can’t go and kick a football on the street or play cricket,” he said. Major crash officers are investigating the scene and police are asking any witnesses who may have seen the alleged incident to contact police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.