Dentist leapt over fence to aid nursery crash kids

A dentist who jumped over a fence to help "screaming" children after a car crashed into a nursery playground - injuring three of them - has been praised for his actions.

A two-year-old boy was taken to hospital after a vehicle drove through a fence at Partou Sunny Days Nursery and Pre-school on Vale Road in Whitby, Ellesmere Port, just before 10:00 BST, Cheshire Police said.

Dr Dario Sales was with a patient at the nearby Whitby Dental & Implant Clinic when he realised the screams were not the "usual" noise of children playing.

He said he instinctively ran outside and, having seen the crashed car, went to help a little boy who had been injured.

Police said the two-year-old's injuries were "not as serious as first thought" and were "not believed to be life-threatening".

Two other children received minor injuries in the incident.

A 63-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Sales, from Chester, said: "We started to hear kids screaming, a lot of noise that didn't sound like the usual kids playing outside."

He said he and two dental nurses went out through an emergency exit at the back of their building.

He said he was "shocked" and "worried about the kids" when he saw the car had crashed through the nursery's fence and "saw a lot of chaos".

"Everyone was running so I jumped the fence and there was a neighbour trying to see if there was a kid underneath the car so I helped him to move part of the fence's wood and we made sure that there was no kid there."

Sales said the dental nurses brought medical equipment from the practice "to see if it was needed".

The 38-year-old said he saw one child with some bruises and a possible fracture.

The dentist played down his actions.

"We just made sure that the kid was fine but we didn't do much."

He said "police came quite quick" followed by an ambulance.

Although he believes there were a few more children with some bruises, he said "we only saw one".

Steve, owner of Steve the Barber which is located close to the nursery, praised the staff from the dentist practice.

He said it was typical of the "outstanding" Whitby and Ellesmere Port community.

"They all help each other and do everything they can."

A Partou spokesperson said: "This is an extremely distressing incident and our immediate focus is supporting the children affected, their families and our colleagues at the nursery."

The nursery said it was in contact with the families involved and was doing "everything we can to support them during this extremely difficult time" along with working closely with police and relevant authorities on their respective investigations.

Cheshire Police said officers remained at the scene to "fully establish the circumstances" of what was believed to have been an "isolated incident".

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