KEY POINTS:
A game went tragically wrong for two families when a father let his son and his son's friend ride around the block in the boot of the family's car.
The boys, who were in the closed boot, were flung from the Ford Mondeo sedan when it collided with another vehicle on Richardson St, St Kilda, in Dunedin on Monday night.
Simon Paul Charlton, 11, was thrown through a wooden fence and died at the scene, and his 12-year-old friend, Harrison Kemp, was seriously injured when he landed on the footpath.
Simon's father, David Charlton, was driving the car.
Harrison's parents, Jonathan and Gail Kemp, said yesterday they had initially been shocked when Mr Charlton told them the boys were in the boot of his car.
But they held no animosity towards Mr Charlton, who had suffered a "great loss" and who had shown "a lot of courage" to tell them about the accident, Mr Kemp said last night.
The boys watched a movie together on Monday afternoon, and after tea at their own homes Harrison went back to the Charlton house, around the corner from his house, to play.
He was on his way home when the crash happened.
Mr Kemp said Mr Charlton had told him and his wife that the boys had wanted to go for a ride in the boot and were "quite persistent" about it.
He had agreed to give them "a quick ride" around the block.
Two surgeons at Dunedin Hospital operated on Harrison's leg, face and brain injuries for five hours yesterday.
He was in a serious but stable condition in the hospital's high dependency unit last night, and it was expected he would need to be in hospital for up to 10 weeks.
Mr Charlton received minor injuries in the crash.
Neighbours and bystanders gathered at the crash scene yesterday as police officers inspected the vehicles.
The mother of two males in the other vehicle, said her 24-year-old son had been driving the silver Subaru station wagon west along Richardson St about 10.30pm.
Her 14-year-old son was in the passenger seat and two of his friends, aged 14 and 15, were in the back seat.
The group was going to her older son's Richardson St house.
The mother said she did not know if their vehicle was speeding.
Several people spoken to said they heard a car "going great guns" and "hoofing it" along Richardson St about 10.30pm, followed by a loud bang.
Police said yesterday 10 police officers at the South Dunedin police station were working on the case.
No charges would be laid until everyone involved in the crash had been spoken to and police could fully establish what had happened, said Detective Sergeant Brett Roberts.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
