A California neighborhood was shaken Thursday after two very young children behind the wheel of their parents’ car struck and critically injured a woman who was out walking her dog.
Authorities said the boys, ages four and seven, took the family vehicle while their parents were asleep and drove through the streets of Oakland before the joyride ended in a violent crash.
Surveillance video showed the car traveling along 35th Avenue when it hit the woman in a crosswalk, went over a median and slammed into a fence, according to ABC 7.
Police said the children had also sideswiped another vehicle moments before the pedestrian was hit.
The crash happened only a few blocks from the boys’ home. Officers later found both children outside the vehicle after it came to a stop, police said.
The injured woman was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, while the two boys were also taken for medical evaluation, Fox 8 Live reported. Her dog was not injured and fled from the scene, according to the outlet.
Witness Anthony Hudson said he believed the children were traveling at no less than 60 mph when the car struck the woman.
Lavelle Shah-Marquis, another witness, said he ran toward the wreck to help the boys and heard them discussing how they had taken their mother’s car.
Two boys, aged four and seven, crashed their parents’ car after taking it for a joyride on Thursday and hitting a woman walking her dog
The boys were seen on the sidewalk after the crash. A witness said an airbag hit one of them so hard it launched them into the backseat. They were taken to the hospital in stable condition
Shah-Marquis said the woman lost consciousness immediately.
‘They were just doing CPR the whole time,’ Hudson said. ‘It was tragic, and I’m still a little shook by it.’
Two good Samaritans were able to keep the woman, who is in her 30s, alive until first responders arrived, KPIX reported.
Shah-Marquis said the car’s airbag ‘hit [one of] the children so hard, it put him to the backseat.’
Neighbors rushed to help the children, who lay on the sidewalk. Their parents later arrived, witnesses said.
‘These parents need to be held responsible,’ Shah-Marquis told KPIX. ‘You have someone here that literally could possibly lose their life off the account of being irresponsible.’
The parents are cooperating with the investigation, police said.
It is unclear if the parents will face charges for their children’s actions.
The woman was in the crosswalk when she was struck. She was taken to the hospital in critical conditions
Her dog was not hurt and ran away, police said
Witnesses had to perform CPR on her until first responders arrived
A witness estimated the boys were traveling at 60 mph before the crash
Former Prosecutor Steven Clark told ABC 7 it is unlikely.
‘This isn’t like leaving a gun around for a kid. This is an automobile that we use every day, and this is the kind of thing that you’re used to just leaving your car keys out,’ he told the outlet.
‘The law doesn’t have an exact remedy for this. It is a crime that the seven-year-old committed, but we’re not going to put a seven-year-old in juvenile hall.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Oakland Police Department for comment.
