[03 NOV 00] CRIMES, FIRES & ACCIDENTS
Boy Hurt By Hit And Run Driver

A Coventry teenager narrowly avoided death when a motorist mounted a pavement and hit him with his car before driving off.

The 14-year-old was walking home after school in Robin Hood Road, Willenhall at 3.45pm.

As he was struck by the car, which was possibly a green Vauxhall Cavalier, he bounced off the bonnet and hit his head on the windscreen.

The boy suffered a badly sprained left ankle and cuts and bruises across his body. He was treated at Coventry and Warwickshire hospital, but was later released.

Police are hunting for the driver, who is thought to have driven at the boy following an argument some minutes before.

The man, in his late 40s, drove up to the boy who was walking home from school with two teenage girls in Chace Avenue, near the police station.

Words were exchanged and the man drove off. After the girls went their separate way from the boy the driver returned and struck the teenager.

The attacker is white, about 5ft 7ins, broad build with a big belly. He was generally scruffy in appearance, and drove towards the shopping precinct in Willenhall after hitting the boy.

A police spokesman urged witnesses to come forward. He said:

“We are treating this incident very seriously as it could have had for more serious consequences.

“The teenager and anyone else walking on the pavement could have sustained far more serious injuries and we need to trace this man.”