The Age wrote:
The 15-year-old driver of a stolen utility is likely to be charged with driving offences after killing his younger brother when he failed to take a corner on a country road in south-eastern Victoria last night.
The ute flipped, killing the driver's 13-year-old brother who was sitting in the tray on the back of the vehicle.
The driver then ran to a nearby house to raise the alarm.
Police are appealing for the driver of a red car to come forward, believing it passed the ute just minutes before it crashed.
The utility had five male teenagers onboard, including the driver, when it flipped over on Tyson Road, Heyfield, about 195 kilometres south-east of Melbourne.
One of the boys saw a red car about two minutes before the accident at about 7pm yesterday, police said.
Acting Inspector Jeffrey Smith from the Major Collisions Unit said the vehicle, a 2003 white Toyota utility, belonged to the State Government's Department of Sustainability and Environment, and was stolen from the Heyfield area at the weekend. He declined to say whether the boys had been joyriding since then.
"The driver in the red car might have seen the ute coming along in the opposite direction,'' Inspector Smith said.
"Tyson's Road is a secondary road, quite twisted in places and they failed to take a corner,'' he said.
Inspector Smith said the driver had attempted to regain control of the vehicle but rolled into a drain on the side of the road and had flipped.
Police said the dead boy and a 14-year-old friend, both from the logging town of Heyfield, had been travelling on the tray of the ute. The driver's brother died when the ute rolled, pinning him underneath.
It is believed that only the driver and dead boy were related.
The 14-year-old was also pinned beneath the vehicle. He suffered "horrendous" leg injuries and was airlifted to the Royal Children's Hospital.
"To state the bleeding obvious, young kids shouldn't be driving a car that doesn't belong to them." Inspector Smith said.
"Too often we've got young kids, inexperienced...doing what they shouldn't be doing. It's very, very upsetting for the family and obviously the townsfolk."
The other three boys were uninjured.
A police spokesman said that all boys had been interviewed but no one had been taken into custody at this stage.
Inspector Smith said the driver's age did not preclude him from being charged with multiple offences, including culpable driving.
Troy Akers, who owns the Timberline general store on Tyson Road, not far from where the accident occurred, said he was shocked by the accident.
"I think a lot of people in the community are not aware yet of the accident because of the time frame, but once it gets around town the full thing will really be felt,'' said Mr Akers.
"I suppose it's lucky it was just one of them rather than all five of them.
"It's the problem with young kids - they all do stupid things and sometimes these things happen. It's just a terrible waste.''
The kids' dad is my mum's foster brother. He had a really hard childhood, and has drug-induced Schizophrenia. Please... if any of you pray, please pray for the family. This sort of this is horrific and the last thing anyone needs is for the dad to stop taking medication or something. I don't know what to think... we weren't close, I don't even know that I had met the family, but it's sent me into overload and I just wanna scream...
PhoenixKitten[/quote]
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...though fire may burn & flames envelop me, I will arise from the ashes...
28 Sep 2005, 5:07 am
