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Police Close In On BMW Driver Who Hit 13-Year-Old Cyclist In Melbourne

The BMW 1 series involved in the crash has been seized.
The dark grey BMW 1 series with smashed in windscreen and damaged front was found by police after an exhaustive two-day search.
Victoria Police
The dark grey BMW 1 series with smashed in windscreen and damaged front was found by police after an exhaustive two-day search.

Police say they're closing in on the driver of a BMW which knocked a 13-year-old girl off her bicycle in Melbourne on Sunday evening, leaving her life hanging in the balance.

The driver was an Asian woman in her early 30s with straight shoulder-length hair, say police.

A dark grey BMW 1 series, believed to be the car involved, was seized by police late on Tuesday from a residential address in Braybrook in Melbourne's west, about 30 minutes' drive from where it hit the teenager in Coburg.

This is probably the last chance that the driver has to do the right thing."

The breakthrough find came after major collision investigation unit detectives knocked on the doors of hundreds of owners of similar BMWs in an exhaustive two-day search which has still failed to locate the owner of the vehicle.

"We're really close, we know we're really close to making an arrest in this matter," Detective Inspector Stuart McGregor told Sunrise on Wednesday morning.

The girl's crumpled bicycle at the scene of the crash.
Seven News Melbourne
The girl's crumpled bicycle at the scene of the crash.

He urged the driver to hand herself in to police.

"The fact is this is probably the last chance that the driver has to do the right thing; this is the last chance that this driver has to show remorse," he said.

Detective Inspector McGregor had earlier slammed the woman's behaviour in leaving the girl "to die on the side of the road" on Sunday evening, after getting out of the car briefly to see what had happened.

The teenager, identified by the Herald Sun as 13-year-old Alice Lewis, was still in a critical condition in hospital following surgery on Wednesday.

It's believe she was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash and received traumatic head injuries and broken bones.

Major collision investigation unit detectives found the BMW at a residential address in Baybrook.
Victoria Police
Major collision investigation unit detectives found the BMW at a residential address in Baybrook.

A former St John Ambulance cadet who stopped to help the teen described to the Herald Sun rolling the girl onto her back and seeing "blood all over her face".

"It was her breathing and head that were the worst," Damian Nippard said.

"We were talking to her by name and telling her to keep breathing and that there was help on the way."

Victoria Police's Assistant Commissioner Fryer had said on Monday that there was "no doubt" that the driver of the car was aware that they had hit the young girl.

"What sort of person hits a young girl and then doesn't render assistance?" he said.

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