Elderly driver arrested after car mounts pavement in Hong Kong, injuring 9
Surveillance footage shows man, 75, attempting U-turn before accident on Lam Hing Street in Kowloon Bay
A 75-year-old driver has been arrested in Hong Kong after stepping on the wrong pedal in his car and mounting the pavement, injuring eight pedestrians and throwing his passenger from the vehicle.
Police were called to Lam Hing Street in Kowloon Bay at about 12.40pm on Monday following reports of a car veering onto the pavement outside the car park of Metro Centre II, an industrial building.
Surveillance footage showed the man attempting to make a U-turn before the accident happened, according to the force. His wife, also 75, was hurled from the vehicle and suffered injuries to her head and ribs.
“Our preliminary investigation shows that the driver might have mistakenly stepped on the accelerator, instead of the brake, and mounted the pavement,” said Inspector Tsoi Shiu-kei of the police force’s Kowloon East accident investigation team, adding a passenger in the vehicle had not buckled up.
Tsoi said the case did not involve criminal elements, but the force would pursue the investigation as one of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm.
Police arrested the driver, who was unhurt and passed a breathalyser test. He also had “no medical conditions that could prevent him from driving”, the force added.
