Boy of 5 injured in hit & run in Spain

Suspect driver gives himself up

AN Irish boy is in intensive care after being run over on a zebra crossing by a hit-and-run drinkdriver at a Spanish holiday resort.

The youngster, said to be aged around five, was struck at 11.45pm on Monday in Salou just south of the east coast city of Tarragona.

The Spanish suspect driver was arrested after going into a police station around 45 minutes after the accident and failing a breath test. Local reports claimed he was three times over the drink-drive limit.

The injured boy was taken to the Joan XXIII Hospital in Tarragona. His condition yesterday was described as serious but not lifethreatening.

He was described as Irish by Salou Town Hall and was staying with his family at a local campsite.

The car involved was a white Auris Toyota, part of the fleet of official vehicles of the Mediterranean Games, an event held every four years between nations around or very close to the Mediterranean Sea. This year’s games are in Tarragona.

Organisers said the suspect was working for a sub-contractor and was not on duty when the youngster was knocked over. Meanwhile, members of the public helped save a boy of six who had a seizure in a car. The youngster, identified only as Jack, became unresponsive in the back of his grandmother Pauline’s vehicle near the Red Cow pub in West Dublin at the weekend.

Pauline told RTE’S Liveline yesterday: “When I stopped at a traffic light I turned around to say ‘Are you OK buddy?’ and he had sick on his lap. He was non-responsive so I jumped out of the car hysterical, opened the door, took him out of the car seat and lifted him.

“An off-duty garda helped me. He offered to bring me to Crumlin Children’s Hospital but then Jack started to seize so we put him on his side.”

She said off-duty medics and a doctor then turned up.

Pauline added: “People came with covers and pillows for his head. At this stage when she [the doctor] told me he was OK I collapsed.

“Someone phoned his mum, the ambulance came and they worked on Jack at the side of the verge where he was lying.”

The boy recovered in hospital. Pauline added: “It [the support] put my faith back into humanity because all you hear is negativity on the TV and radio. They were just wonderful, absolutely wonderful.”