Critical condition: Police investigate 3yo Geraldton boy hit and dragged by car in Karloo, flown to Perth

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 along two Karloo streets in what police say appears to be an accident. About 6.09pm on Tuesday, March 14, Geraldton police officer-in-charge Sen. Sgt Chris Martin said he would allege a 46-year-old driving a white Hyundai I30 drove into Aaron Close in Karloo and completed a U-turn end of the cul-de-sac. Sen. Sgt Martin said it was alleged the suspect began driving in a westerly direction where a three-year-old was sitting on the southern verge, when he was struck by the Hyundai and dragged by the vehicle for an “undetermined period”. 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. Police have yet to lay charges. White markers at the crime scene showed the vehicle had dragged the three-year-old from 6 Aaron Close to the end of the street, turning left on to Assen Street and stopping a short distance after near 36 Assen Street. “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,” Sen. Sgt Martin said. 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 on Tuesday and he was later flown to Perth Children’s Hospital as a priority one by the Royal Flying Doctors Service at 1.40am. On Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson from the Child and Adolescent Health Services confirmed the three-year-old remained in a critical condition. The boy’s grandmother, Kylie Dalgety, said surgeons had called the boy a “miracle child”. “Couple fractures and brain surgery team said he’s a miracle child. So everyone please pray for my grandson’s fast recovery,” she said on social media. 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 continued to investigate the scene on Thursday and were unable to provide an update at the time. Police are asking any witnesses who may have seen the alleged incident to contact police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.