Two children have been taken to hospital in a serious condition after being hit by a speeding car opposite St Edmund's College on Canberra Avenue.
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00:00About 7.40am this morning, New South Wales Police Force responded to reports of a stolen
00:06motor vehicle in Sutton, New South Wales.
00:09They attended a childcare centre where it's alleged a Holden station wagon was stolen
00:14from that location with an eight-year-old girl in the rear of the vehicle.
00:19Fortunately, that girl was let out of the vehicle approximately 100 metres down the
00:24road unharmed.
00:26That was last seen heading towards the ACT, so ACT Policing were alerted to reports of
00:33that vehicle.
00:34For the next hour, ACT Policing along with our New South Wales Police Force colleagues
00:39attempted to locate that vehicle and shortly after 9am this morning, the vehicle was sighted
00:44entering the ACT on Canberra Avenue, Harman.
00:48A short time later, Police and Emergency Services responded to reports of a collision on Canberra
00:55Avenue, Griffith, outside the St Edmunds College, where unfortunately a 15-year-old
01:02and a 14-year-old boy were struck by that Holden Commodore station wagon.
01:08The vehicle then struck another vehicle before coming to rest at the corner of Canberra Avenue
01:14and Ferno Street in Marnika, behind me here.
01:18The 31-year-old male attempted to flee the scene.
01:21He was apprehended a short distance away by tradespeople working in the area and ACT Policing
01:26members attended a short time after that and took the male into custody.
01:31The 15-year-old and 14-year-old boy, both students at St Edmunds College, were both
01:36taken to hospital in serious condition.
01:40The 31-year-old male driver and sole occupant of that vehicle was also taken to hospital
01:46where he remains under police guard.
01:49At this time, our thoughts go out to the boys and the families of those boys and also
01:56the whole St Edmunds community at this time.
02:00We also appeal at this time to anybody that saw the vehicle, the green Holden Commodore
02:07station wagon with Victorian number plates, anyone that saw that vehicle driving in ACT
02:12or New South Wales from 7 Porter this morning, if they could contact Crimestoppers on 1-800-333-000.
02:21I think I've got that right.
02:24What sort of injuries do the boys have?
02:26Serious injuries at this time.
02:28My update at this time is one is currently in theatre being operated on and the other
02:33one is in serious condition.
02:35And what do we know about that 31-year-old man who was taken into custody?
02:39We're currently conducting enquiries in relation to him.
02:42He's not currently a resident of the ACT.
02:44He was most recently a resident of Victoria.
02:47He has been a resident of the ACT in the past.
02:50So we're currently conducting enquiries with our state colleagues to get a recent update
02:55on the chronology of his whereabouts.
02:57Is he known to police?
02:59He is known to police, yes.
03:00At the time the boys were hit, were the police engaged in a chase?
03:05No, there was no chase involved.
03:07Police attempted to deploy stop sticks back in Harman and there was no pursuit ensuing.
03:15Police believed he may have gone into Fishwick and went through Fishwick and at that time
03:20we responded to reports of a collision in Griffith.
03:22Do you know yet if he was speeding or what speed he might have been going?
03:26There are reports of erratic driving behaviour before and after the time of the incident.
03:32And this is just such a shocking thing for so many people.
03:36What can you say to people who are sort of reeling from it today?
03:40This is a tragedy.
03:41Obviously we've got our major collision team, we've got our police detectives out conducting
03:47a thorough investigation.
03:49As I said, our thoughts and hearts go out to the boys, the family of those boys and
03:54also the wider St Edmunds community.
03:56And what about those heroic three people, what do you have to say to them?
03:59Oh look, it's amazing isn't it, that people can respond like that, to put themselves in
04:06harm's way.
04:07Obviously they could see by the state of the car that the car had been involved in a serious
04:12collision and obviously as the male attempted to flee, they apprehended him and then police
04:20arrived a short time after.
04:22Sorry, just to check details, was the little girl in the car, was she known to this 31
04:28year old?
04:29No, no.
04:30So it was just a random car?
04:31It was an opportunity, we believe at this time it was an opportunistic theft of that
04:34vehicle.
04:35And she escaped unharmed physically?
04:37She was let out of the vehicle unharmed, yes.
04:39But I mean it's just such a scary thing for a young child to go through, like how is she
04:44doing?
04:45Oh certainly, our New South Wales Police Force colleagues are dealing with that part of the
04:49incident.
04:50There were reports in New South Wales that this car had hit a number of other cars before
04:53it entered the ACT, what can you say about that?
04:55We're conducting inquiries at the moment, we do know there was a serious collision with
04:59another car closest to St Edmunds College up there that's caused a lot of the injuries,
05:03a lot of the, sorry, a lot of the damage to the car that you'll see behind me there.
05:10Our investigation is solely and wholly on events that have happened in the ACT.
05:14And that collision was before the kids were around?
05:18That's part of the investigation at the moment, I believe it happened after colliding with
05:23the two children.
05:24And have police been in contact with the boys' families?
05:28Police are currently up at the hospital with the families of the boys, yes.
05:31And that man who was under police guard in hospital, was he taken to Maggots and Tissot
05:34or was he also injured?
05:36He suffered injuries as a result of the collisions, obviously with the boys and other vehicles
05:42involved.
05:43What kind of injuries were they?
05:45I don't have an update on his condition at this time.
05:48Do you have any idea what's prompted this whole chain of events?
05:51No, that'll be part of our, form part of our ongoing inquiries in relation to this.