Breaking News
Drama on High
04Jul08
The injured are treated at the scene of Wednesday's crash in High St, Penrith.
FIVE people were seriously injured and more than 10 pedestrians forced to dive for their lives when an out-of-control car careered into shoppers in High St, Penrith, on Wednesday morning.
The car finally came to rest after crashing over a seat and ploughing into MBR Realty's front window.
Dozens of witnesses reported hearing an "almighty bang" as the white Honda Civic, driven by an 82-year-old woman, burst out of Union Lane and through the intersection of Woodriff and High streets. It picked up speed and mowed into the crowd, including a man holding his four-month-old baby, who was pinned between the car and a shopfront.
Incredibly, the child was unharmed, but was taken to Nepean Hospital as a precautionary measure.
The man was one of five people taken to hospital with a range of injuries, including the driver.
Captive Hair is in Woodriff St, directly opposite Union Lane, and 20-year-old hairdresser Melanie McCauley watched in horror as the carnage unfolded.
"I was sitting on a seat outside the salon and saw the elderly lady fly out of Union Lane," Ms McCauley said.
"There was no one else in the car. She then swung on Union St and a man driving a van had to swerve out of the way to miss her.
"It sounded like there was something wrong with the car.
"Then she really started to pick up speed, and I thought 'Oh my God, she's going to drive straight into that building'.
"It was like she was really fighting with the steering wheel but couldn't keep fighting and then drove straight into the people. People just went flying."
Ms McCauley said the street was crowded with people at the time but many were able to leap to safety. Others weren't so lucky.
"Some people literally had to jump to get out of the way.
"I ran down there and saw a man... covered in blood," she said.
"I also saw the baby almost get hit, but I've been told it's okay."
Robert Joyce, 31, from Orchard Hills, was at the corner of Woodriff and High streets and felt an "enormous thud" as he watched in disbelief.
"I saw people flung everywhere. It was just crazy ... something you would never expect to see," he said.
Penrith police Inspector Ric Cox said there is no information yet on the condition of those taken to Nepean Hospital, but the Crash Investigation Unit began inquiries as soon as the injured left the scene.
Michael Ball Realty proprietor Michael Ball injured his knee as he sprang out of the path of the car after it mounted the curb and careered into his shopfront, shattering glass and smashing bricks and framework.
"I was being dropped off out the front of my shop ... when I heard a bang," he said. "She must have hit something round the corner.
"I looked up and she wasn't stopping. I'm thinking 'She's going faster and faster ... she's not going to stop'.
"She's come flying around the corner and taken out the bus seat before crashing into the shop. I couldn't believe what was happening."
A man with a baby in his arms was pinned between the glass and the shop, Mr Ball said.
"The pram went flying past me but he didn't let go of the baby. That guy, he's a champion."
Off-duty probationary ambulance officer Tracy Davidson was walking along busy High St, Penrith, when the accident happened, and joined two other nurses and an army medic helping the injured.
"You just do what you can for them," Ms Davidson said.
"The people that were already there were doing a really good job".
Cottage Lane arcade hairdresser Leonardo Gulisano said he was sitting on a seat outside the arcade when he saw the car travelling "normally" along the one-way laneway.
"When it got to one of the concrete islands there was a noise and I looked up and the car was on top of it.
"It wasn't until she came to the intersection at Woodriffe St that the car wouldn't stop," he said.
"She squeezed in front of a white van and hit its bumper bar and didn't stop at the intersection of High St.
"I thought it's either a heart attack or mechanical trouble."
"I have been here 20 years and I have never seen anything like it."
