Update: It is every parent’s worst nightmare: children inside a car while it rolls unencumbered down a hill.
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That’s what appears to have happened in Lithgow on Friday night.
A runaway car, with two children in the back, hit a pedestrian on Cook Street at around 4.50pm on June 19.
The vehicle had no driver but two children were sitting in the back seat of the car while it rolled down the Lithgow street.
Police believe the handbrake of the car had not been engaged.
A resident of Cook Street, Eliza Jane, said she heard a bang as the car mounted the pathway near Lett Street and then a brick wall.
“I heard a crash and a bang and I could hear kids screaming. I told my partner to call the ambulance,” Ms Jane said.
Ms Jane saw two children walk from behind the car who she then approached.
“They were running around here, one had a bump on their head,” Ms Jane said.
“They said they had been in back seat.”
Police said the children, a seven-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy, were fastened with seat belts when the collision occurred.
The two children were taken to Lithgow Hospital by road with no injuries.
A man in his early twenties, who had been walking down the street with headphones in, was hit by the vehicle as it rolled towards Mort Street.
A Cook Street resident Tiphanie Rowland saw the man being struck by the vehicle.
“I was just having conversation outside my house when I saw the car start rolling down the block at a decent speed,” Ms Rowland said.
“It swerved and mounted the gutter.”
The man was airlifted to Westmead hospital by helicopter.
A NSW Ambulance spokesperson said the man experienced pain in his hip, jaw and pelvis.
“We approach every collision with the possibility of spinal injuries,” police said.
The man was released from Westmead Hospital on Saturday, June 17.
Lithgow police said no one would be charged over the collision, it was more likely to be a ticketed offence.
Previously: A pedestrian was hit by a car travelling down Cook Street towards Mort Street, Lithgow, on Friday after 4.30pm.
Police believe the car had no driver.
A resident of Cook Street, Eliza Jane, said she heard a bang as the car mounted the pathway of Cook Street and then a brick wall.
“I heard a crash and a bang and I could hear kids screaming. I told my partner to call the ambulance,” Ms Jane said.
Eliza Jane saw two children walk from behind the car who she then approached.
“They were running around here, one had a bump on their head,” Ms Jane said.
“They said they had been in back seat.”
Police have not confirmed that the children were in the back seat of the car at the time of the collision.
They said the two children, who were being assessed by paramedics at the scene, would not have to be hospitalised.
A pedestrian who was struck by the vehicle when it mounted the footpath near Lett Street was also being assessed by paramedics.
At 5.30pm ambulance staff were deciding whether the man would be airlifted to hospital.
“We don’t know his condition yet,” police said.
“He sustained possible abdominal injuries. We approach every collision with the possibility of spinal injuries.”
Cook Street resident Tiphanie Rowland saw the man being struck by the vehicle.
“I was just having conversation outside my house when I saw the car start rolling down the block at a decent speed,” Ms Rowland said.
“It swerved and mounted the gutter.”