A four-year-old boy who had managed to slip behind the wheel of his father's luxury car, parked at Place du Casino in Monaco on Friday evening, struck and injured a pedestrian, Monegasque police said on Saturday.
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The victim, a director of a company of Belgian nationality, resident of Monaco, was hospitalized in absolute urgency in Nice, the same source added, confirming information from the regional daily Nice-Matin.
Operated during the night, his days were no longer in danger on Saturday noon, according to his relatives.
The vehicle, belonging to a family of Armenian nationality living in Prague (Czech Republic) and staying at the Hôtel de Paris, on the same Casino Square, is a luxury Bentley brand limousine.
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The driver got out of the car to give the keys to the hotel valet and it was at that time that, according to witnesses, the child who was sitting in the back of the vehicle got out, made around the car and found himself behind the wheel.
He then pressed on the accelerator and the car jumped forward, crushing the pedestrian who was leaving the hotel at the same time,
”explained Commissioner Laurent Braulio, head of the urban police division of the Public Security. of Monaco.
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The investigation, entrusted by the Monaco prosecutor's office to the Monegasque police, will have to determine under what conditions the vehicle was able to move forward when the ignition keys had been withdrawn.
According to his testimony, the driver no longer remembers whether or not he had cut the engine of his vehicle.
The victim, trapped under the rear wheels of the limousine which finished its race against the sidewalk, was quickly extracted by witnesses, while a concert organized by the Cross was to take place in the evening, on the Place du Casino. Monegasque red.