A father and his two young sons were walking down a street near their home.
The father noticed an oncoming pickup truck driving erratically. He nudged his kids over to the roadside.
Moments later, the truck hit the kids, crossed back over to the other side of the road, and landed on a lawn.
That, neighbours say, is what happened Sunday evening on David Street in Wellesley.
The older boy, 7, was airlifted to a Hamilton hospital with a broken pelvis. His three-year-old brother was also taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Bill Ross and his wife were the first neighbours to show up at the scene. They’d heard the noise of the impact. It was so loud that they’d assumed two vehicles had collided. Then they heard the screams.
“We heard the father yell ‘Call 911,’” Ross said Monday.
Surveying the scene, Ross saw the boys on the ground. The truck was across the road. Its driver had somehow ended up in a pond.
Ross says he pulled the driver out of the water and kept tabs on him until police showed up.
In addition to being placed under arrest, the 55-year-old Wellesley Township man was taken to hospital for treatment of a head injury.
John Uuldriks will face charges of dangerous driving causing bodily harm and impaired driving causing bodily harm, as well as driving with open liquor available, driving without insurance and driving while suspended.
Neighbours say Uuldriks had only recently acquired the pickup truck, after a rollover crash involving his previous vehicle in May.
By Monday, both boys were said to be in stable condition. Police say they’re still investigating the collision.
With reporting by Max Wark
