Perth grandma and toddler trapped under runaway car in freak accident
The woman was holding her 18-month-old granddaughter in her arms outside a north Perth home when an unoccupied minivan rolled down the driveway and pinned them under the wheels.
Family Life
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An 18-month-old baby and her grandma had just come home from the daycare run on Friday in Perth’s north when the unthinkable happened.
As the 67-year-old stood in a driveway of an Edgewater home cradling her granddaughter in her arms, an unoccupied Kia Carnival minivan began rolling down the driveway behind them and ran over the pair trapping them underneath.
It was around 3:30pm when neighbours, many of whom were just beginning to return home from work and school, rushed to help the grandma and granddaughter, with one calling emergency services as others tried desperately to free the little girl and her grandma.
“We weren’t able to get to the woman who was underneath the car, but we managed to get the baby out,” a local woman told 9 News.
Police arrived at the scene in a few short minutes, but it firefighters an hour of delicate work using hydraulics to free the woman trapped under the car.
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Grandma and toddler freed after being trapped under runaway vehicle
After she was freed, paramedics attended the grandma, working on her for another hour before she was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital with multiple broken bones in her body and face.
She was placed in an induced coma and remains in a serious condition. When she has stabilised, the 67-year-old will need facial reconstruction surgery.
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Although responsive when neighbours pulled her from under the vehicle, the toddler suffered a brain bleed and a fractured skull. She will need eye socket surgery.
Police have not determined why the vehicle began to roll down the driveway, but have confirmed that it was not occupied at the time of the horrific accident.
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Originally published as Perth grandma and toddler trapped under runaway car in freak accident
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