Runaway car crashes onto Bondi Beach after freak accident

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• published: 04 Feb 2014
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At around 1.30pm, locals and tourists ran for their lives after a sedan crashed after series of freak accidents. An elderly man, aged in his nineties was travelling through Lamrock Ave when it's believed he suffered a medical issue. Dale Hutson was at the intersection when the car headed his way. He jumped out of the way, with the vehicle missing him by a couple of metres. Dale saw the driver inside "in lock mode" believing he was suffering a seizure. After Dale escaped, the car impacted into the side of a Boost Juice building, the car then proceeded up the footpath at speed and towards the Moo Burger restaurant. Dannielle Arnott, the manager of Moo Burger heard screams and saw her front tables destroyed as the car passed at speed. During peak periods, up to sixteen people can be seated outside the restaurant. Today there were none. After the impact with the restaurant, the car turned left violently, across four lanes of traffic, over a footpath, down a grass hill, over the Bondi Beach walkway, through a guardrail, then airborne onto the Beach. The car landed on the sand and continued to drive another 30 or so metres, prior to becoming bogged in the beach. Dannielle from Moo Burger was first to respond to the driver's welfare, running down the grassy slope and onto the beach. Trained in first aid she quickly assessed the driver, prior to lifeguards, paramedics, police, and fire crews arriving. The male was assisted in the vehicle by Bondi lifeguards and paramedics prior to being extracted by Fire & Rescue NSW. The man was assessed on scene and carried to a nearby ambulance. Combined towing had the long and difficult task of vehicle extraction. After some three and half hours, the vehicle was finally removed from the beach. Chris Stiles, the inspector from Waverley local area command said he has never seen anything like it in his 17 years serving the Bondi area. Inspector Stiles said "It could have been catastrophic had it been a busy day". The elderly man was taken to St Vincent's hospital. NSW police are investigating the incident.