Teen Arrested After Stolen SUV Hits Woman Near Melbourne Marathon Course

MELBOURNE, Australia

The Melbourne Marathon is one of Australia's great running parties — tens of thousands of runners, a course through the heart of the city, crowds ten deep on the footpaths. On Sunday morning it got something nobody had on the race plan: a stolen car, driven erratically through the central business district, within meters of the course.

According to the New York Post's reporting, which cites Herald-Sun coverage, the chaos unfolded outside Flinders Street Station — near the Elizabeth Street entrance, by the Flinders Street and Swanston Street intersection — as the marathon was underway on October 11.

Witnesses described the vehicle as a Hyundai with its bumper hanging off, speeding around the CBD and, in one witness's words, “driving so fast and so erratically” that it was “the scariest thing I've ever witnessed.” A witness message shared online by 3AW presenter Jacqueline Felgate said a young boy nearby was roughly 30 feet from the speeding car.

Kirk Pearson, the owner of Project Zero Coffee, was looking out toward the station when it happened. “I was just dead set looking out towards the station, and then I saw a car just come screaming through and hit a woman,” Pearson told the Herald-Sun, as relayed by the Post.

Pearson said the woman screamed in pain as the driver kept going. The car headed toward the Flinders Street and Swanston Street intersection, encountered the road closures for the marathon, and did a quick U-turn — at which point, witnesses say, the driver doubled back and bystanders had to physically drag the injured woman off the road to keep her from being struck a second time.

“Bystanders had to actually drag the injured person off the road so that they wouldn't be hit again because this guy was not slowing down,” Pearson said.

Another witness account shared on Felgate's post described it the same way: bystanders dragged the injured person from the road after the hit so the driver couldn't run them over a second time when the car came back the other way.

Guns drawn, and a truck that may have saved the race

The closest call may have been the course itself. One witness said the driver was “meters from breaking onto the marathon course outside of Flinders St Station” before encountering the closures. Another wrote that a traffic control truck parked at the main Flinders Street/Swanston Street intersection blocked the car from driving through the marathon runners.

Witnesses also reported police officers with guns drawn at the scene. “Cops got their guns out, told everyone to get down, and the kid did a U-turn and sped off — all the officers that were stationed here have all gone to chase the offender,” one witness message said, describing the driver fleeing while officers pursued.

The Post's account says the car narrowly missed the course before speeding off. There is no indication in the reporting so far that any runner was struck.

One patient to hospital — then came the arrest

An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson told the Herald-Sun that paramedics responded to reports of the incident at about 10:45 a.m. local time on Sunday. Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance and Advanced Life Support paramedic crews attended the scene, and one patient was transported to Royal Melbourne Hospital, according to the spokesperson.

News.com.au has contacted Victoria Police for comment, per the Post. Police have since confirmed the arrest of a 16-year-old boy (see above), and Ambulance Victoria confirmed the woman's injuries are non-life-threatening and she is in stable condition.

This is a developing story. We will update it as Victoria Police release information and as more of the official record becomes available. What is confirmed right now: a stolen car drove erratically near the Melbourne Marathon course on Sunday morning, a woman was struck outside Flinders Street Station, bystanders intervened, one patient went to hospital, and the driver fled.

A 16-year-old is in custody

The case moved fast. Victoria Police arrested a 16-year-old boy from the Greater Dandenong area on Beaconsfield Parade in Albert Park, and he is in custody expected to be interviewed by investigators. Police allege the white Ford Escape was stolen from a business on Luster Circuit in Cranbourne South, in Melbourne's southeast, at about 2 a.m. on Sunday — roughly eight hours before the chaos in the CBD.

Police allege the teenager drove the SUV along tram tracks and then mounted the footpath at the intersection of Elizabeth and Flinders streets, striking the woman at about 10:45 a.m. local time. He then made a U-turn outside Flinders Street Station and continued along Flinders Lane, where he is believed to have struck several unoccupied parked cars, police said. One discrepancy worth noting: witnesses initially described the vehicle as a Hyundai with its bumper hanging off; police allege it was a white Ford Escape.

Police confirmed the incident is not being treated as an act of terrorism or a targeted attack. The woman, a Southbank resident in her 50s, was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital with non-life-threatening upper-body injuries and is reported to be in stable condition.

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