KEY POINTS:
A second girl is in hospital with suspected kidney injuries after a 15-year-old learner driver crashed into a group of children.
The girl, thought to be aged 8, is in Starship Hospital along with a three-year-old girl who was this morning in a medically-induced coma.
It is understood the youth's car came around a tight corner and mounted the kerb on the other side of the road.
It bounced back across the road and ploughed through 10m of picket fence into a group of four children, aged 3 to 8, and a 59-year-old woman.
Police are investigating whether the teenager was being supervised at the time of the accident, which happened in Torbay, on Auckland's North Shore, yesterday afternoon. If he was not, he was in breach of the conditions of his learner licence.
Officers are also probing whether excessive speed was a factor.
The children and the woman were standing about 3m back from the road preparing to deliver copies of the North Shore Times community newspaper when they were hit.
The 3-year-old girl was thrown on to the car bonnet and into the windscreen before landing on the ground with serious head and internal injuries.
She was rushed to the Starship hospital, where she remained in a drug-induced coma this morning. Her condition was described as critical but stable.
Terry Hazlewood, the stepfather of one of the eight-year-old girls and a family friend of the three-year-old, said the car was in a poor condition and the driver was too young to cope with driving at speed.
He wants a review of the type of vehicle young people are allowed to drive.
A 9-year-old boy who lives in the street was walking down the road when he saw the accident.
"The car hit this little girl, whose head hit the windscreen, and she went over the car and landed on the footpath," he said.
A 6-year-old girl in the street said she heard screaming. "Someone said, 'Please help us. Just call an ambulance'."
Blood
Emergency service workers arrived soon after to find the injured children lying on the footpath amid pools of blood.
Her 8-year-old sister, who was also in the group, suffered minor injuries and was taken to North Shore Hospital with all the other children. Some of the children were treated and then sent home.
The woman, who was the grandmother of one of the youngsters, was cut on the arm and was expected to be kept in North Shore Hospital for observation last night.
The car driver went into severe shock and was also taken to hospital. He was due out today and will then be spoken to by police.
He had only recently bought the Toyota Celica he was driving.
North Shore police area commander Inspector Les Paterson said the serious crash unit was investigating the incident. It would be several weeks before its report was completed, he said, but excessive speed was a possible factor.
"You could make an assumption that there was an excess speed involved," he said.
"But I think we do have to be cautious and just have a look into the incident and just make sure there wasn't a medical condition or something like brake failure."
Mr Paterson said it appeared the young driver was alone in the car - which would breach the conditions of a learner's licence - but that was being investigated.
The teenager could face charges if he was found to be at fault and would be dealt with through the Youth Court due to his age.
Mr Paterson said the police's thoughts were with the people who had been injured - especially the 3-year-old girl - and their families.
It is understood some of the injured children live in Stredwick Drive.
- Additional reporting: NZPA and NEWSTALK ZB
