Teen arrested after woman hit by car outside Flinders Street Station near marathon route

A teenage boy has been arrested after allegedly driving a stolen car through Melbourne’s city centre on Sunday morning and hitting a pedestrian outside Flinders Street Station.

Havoc erupted about 10.30am when the 16-year-old allegedly drove a stolen white Ford Escape through the CBD and struck a woman in her 50s, several parked cars and street signage.

It is understood the SUV travelled along tram tracks on Elizabeth Street before it mounted the footpath and hit the Southbank woman, who had been standing at the busy intersection, before turning left onto Flinders Street.

Witnesses reported seeing police draw their weapons as the vehicle travelled towards the intersection of Flinders and Swanston streets, which was blocked off as part of the Melbourne Marathon route.

The driver then did a U-turn before speeding back along Flinders Street.

Barista Kirk Pearson was working at his Flinders Street cafe when he heard a car “screaming from Elizabeth Street”.

As the car sped away from police, Pearson said, bystanders scrambled to help the injured woman off the road so she wouldn’t be hit again.

The car then continued speeding towards Southern Cross Station with police in pursuit, he said.

Ambulance Victoria confirmed on Sunday afternoon that the woman was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries to her upper body.

Police said the Dandenong boy was later arrested on Beaconsfield Parade, Albert Park, and would soon be interviewed.

Investigators have ruled out the incident as an act of terrorism or a targeted attack.

One witness, who works at Walker’s Doughnuts on Elizabeth Street and asked not to be named, said panicked bystanders began crying immediately after the incident.

“Incidents happen every day,” he said. “But this is the most intense thing I’ve seen in the past three, four years.”

The vehicle is alleged to have been stolen from a business in Cranbourne South about 2am.

Though the Melbourne Marathon starting gun went off at 6.15am for those undertaking the full 42-kilometre course, thousands of runners participating in the half-marathon were still racing when the incident occurred – having set off at 9.45am.

Starting on Batman Avenue, 20,000 participants travelled west along Flinders Street and past the station before turning onto St Kilda Road. Runners then travelled to Albert Park Lake, and for full marathon participants a lap of Beaconsfield Parade followed, before they doubled back along St Kilda Road and Flinders Street Station to eventually finish inside the MCG.

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