A 14-YEAR-OLD girl was fighting for her life last night after suffering critical head injuries in what was initially thought to be a “minor” crash in Ipswich.
A 14-YEAR-OLD girl was fighting for her life last night after suffering critical head injuries in what was initially thought to be a “minor” crash in Ipswich.
The teenager was a passenger in a silver Ford Mondeo that crashed into a garden wall in Belmont Road.
The incident was not believed to be serious when emergency crews arrived at scene, with both the girl and the 38-year-old male driver thought to have suffered only minor injuries. A second passenger escaped unharmed.
But when the girl was taken to Ipswich Hospital, a scan revealed she had suffered a serious head injury and doctors transferred her to Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge.
The driver was released from hospital yesterday but a spokeswoman for Suffolk police last night confirmed the girl's injuries were now being treated as life-threatening.
She said: “We were called to what was believed to be a minor single-vehicle accident.
“Paramedics attended and treated everyone at the scene but suggested the driver and the passenger be taken to hospital for a check-up.
“About two or three hours later a scan found the girl had suffered serious head injuries and she was then transferred to Addenbrooke's Hospital.”
When the serious nature of the accident emerged, police accident investigators were sent to the scene to try to find the cause of the crash, hours after fellow officers had left the scene.
The car is thought to spun out of control about 150 yards away from Mrs Meager's house, hitting a kerb on the opposite side of the road, near Yew Tree Rise, and then careering into a garden, opposite Sycamore Close.
Widow Ethel Meager, 84, was woken by the sound of the car smashing through her front wall, at about 12.30am yesterday.
She said: “I thought I was dreaming when I heard the bang and didn't even bother getting up.
“The next thing I knew the police were knocking on my door and I was so shocked when I saw the car and the mess it made.
“There was a girl in the back crying and all my nice neighbours had come out to see if I was okay.”
Firefighters used hydraulic equipment to free one of the passengers from the vehicle.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call Sergeant John Hawkes at Suffolk police's road policing unit on 01473 613500.
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