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5.20pm:
A five-year-old boy has been placed in an induced coma and flown to hospital with serious head injuries, after he was hit by a four-wheel-drive in Horsley.
Lake Illawarra Police Inspector Brian Pedersen said the boy was riding his bike outside his Siltstone Avenue home with children from a neighbouring home in the moments leading to the collision, just after 3pm Saturday.
The boy’s father and a neighbour – the mother of the other children on bikes – were a short distance away when the crash occurred.
“[The children] were riding pushbikes on the footpath here,” Insp Pedersen said. “The next thing [the neighbour] saw was the four-wheel drive, he’s on the road, bang.”
A 34-year-old Illawarra man was at the wheel of the Nissan Patrol involved.
He was taken to Shellharbour Hospital for mandatory blood and alcohol tests.
Inspector Pedersen said police did not believe the four-wheel drive was travelling at speed when it hit the boy.
“We can see the skid marks down the road, it's not indicative of high speed,” he said.
NSW Ambulance Inspector John Brotherhood said the boy had suffered serious head injuries and possible injuries to his pelvis and back.
He was placed in an induced coma before his mother boarded the ambulance helicopter at his side.
He was bound for Sydney Children’s Hospital in a serious and critical, but stable, condition.
“He’s serious, which means we’re really, really concerned about him … but the preventions we’ve put into him - we’ve induced a coma and given him medication - [means he’s stable],” Insp Brotherhood said.
Insp Brotherhood said the driver involved in the crash was “quite shaken”.
“The police are looking after him; he’s scared and upset, which is quite normal.”
It is unclear whether the boy went under the wheels of the four-wheel-drive.
A crime scene was established on the street and inquiries into the incident are continuing. Anyone with information is urged to come forward.
Earlier: An ambulance rescue chopper has landed at Horsley, where a young boy has been hit by a car.
Paramedics and police were called to Siltstone Avenue about 3pm to reports a boy had been hit by a slow-moving four-wheel drive.
Initial reports indicate the boy was aged between four and six years old.
He suffered head injuries in the accident and was in a reduced state of consciousness when paramedics arrived.
The boy was treated at the scene before being loaded into an ambulance and driven to a rescue helicopter waiting in a nearby reserve.
He will be flown to Sydney Children’s Hospital for further treatment.
