Boy, seven, 'was driving crash car'

2:24am Thursday 24th July 2008

Police are trying to establish whether a seven-year-old boy was driving a car which overturned.

David Johnson needed hospital treatment for an arm injury after his family's car overturned near his home in Hadleigh, Suffolk, shortly after 1am on Wednesday.

Officers said the youngster was the only person in the VW Golf and they had no evidence to suggest that anyone else had been involved.

Neighbours told how they saw the little boy being led from the car by a fireman. They said the vehicle appeared to have been driven across a flat road, mounted a kerb and hit a fence before coming to rest on its roof about 30ft from the boy's house.

"I saw a little boy get out of the car," said cleaner Michelle Stone, 46, who lives near David's home.

"A fireman was holding his hand. He was only a little tot. He was really little. I wouldn't have thought he was even seven. I wondered how he could reach the pedals."

She added: "I thought it was someone who had been drinking too much."

Police said an investigation was under way.

"We had a report of a single vehicle accident at 1.10am," said a police spokeswoman.

"A red Golf had overturned. The only occupant, who was a seven-year-old boy, was taken to hospital. There was no-one else in the vehicle."

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