A 10-year-old girl has tragically died after a driver allegedly lost control of his 4×4 vehicle in a residential street in Oldham, Greater Manchester.
At around 5pm yesterday, police were called to reports of the collision between a red Landrover Discovery and two children.
When officers got to the scene, they saw the car had crashed into a lamp post after colliding with the children.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: ‘Emergency services attended and a 10-year-old girl was taken to hospital with serious injuries where, despite the best work of hospital staff, she sadly died a short time later.
‘The other child was taken to hospital with an ankle and head injury where she remains in a stable condition.
‘A 42-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and driving under the influence. He remains in custody for questioning.’
The road was cordoned off by police throughout yesterday evening as investigators probed the circumstances of the crash.
A resident told Manchester Evening News that she saw the girls lying injured in the road and brought out dressing gowns to keep them warm until emergency services arrived.
The woman, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘It was two girls, I heard a crash, opened my window, and my neighbour yelled at me to come outside as he said there’s a girl that’s been knocked over so I ran outside.
‘One of them got knocked over and was being worked on outside mine.
‘I gave them both my dressing gowns to keep them warm as they didn’t have any parents in the area and I just wanted to look after them since they couldn’t.
‘The girl was near the bus stop on her side, the other was on the grass in the dark but we found her and then I rang for help.’
Sergeant Matthew Waggett, of GMP’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: ‘Our thoughts are with the little girl’s family at this unimaginably difficult time.
‘Whilst we have arrested a man, we are continuing at pace with our investigation as we work to establish the full circumstances of this collision and are asking that anyone who has dashcam footage or any information about the red Landrover Discovery during the collision or prior to the collision speaks to police.
‘This collision happened at a busy time of day and we are hopeful that there are a number of witnesses who can assist police with their enquiries.’