Once again, car driven by underage schoolboy kills man

CHENNAI : A car driven by a 16-year-old boy mowed down a motorcyclist on Tuesday at Tiruvallur, the third fatal accident caused by cars driven by minor boys in Chennai and its peripheries this month. Police said the accident took place when a Class 11 boy sneaked out with his father’s car and went on a joy ride with four friends. 

The boy was reportedly driving on the Chennai - Tiruttani high road at 8pm when he hit a motorcycle driven by K Lakshmipathy (55), a resident of Pullarambakkam in Tiruvallur district running a tea shop in Tiruvallur town. “Lakshmipathy was crossing the highway when the car hit his bike. Lakshmipathy and the bike were dragged for a few metres before he fell off the bike and the car ran over him,” said a police officer. Police, who reached the site, said Lakshmipathy died on the spot.

Locals handed over the car’s occupants to the cops, who were shocked to find they were schoolboys. Neither the boy nor his father were held as of  Wednesday evening though a case of causing death by negligence was registered at Tiruvallur Taluk police station. Sources said the boy’s father, said to be a businessman, was out of town. On August 5, a car driven by a 17- year-old boy killed three at Mahabalipuram. On Saturday, a car driven by a 15-year-old boy hit a parked van. The boy’s friend was killed in the crash.