8-year-old boy accidentally strikes grandmother with her car in Lindenhurst driveway

An 8-year-old boy accidentally struck his grandmother with her car Monday in Lindenhurst after climbing behind the wheel and pushing the start button, police said.

Authorities said that at about 10 a.m. the boy got into his grandmother’s 2016 Honda, parked in the driveway of a home at 678 Wellwood Ave., and started the engine, police said. As the car began rolling down the driveway, 63-year-old Gina Bente ran toward it in an attempt to stop it, but the driver’s side door struck her, knocking her to the ground and causing her to hit her head on the pavement.

The car kept moving down the driveway, which faces Gulf Street. It hit a curb and stopped in the middle of the road.

The grandmother was rushed to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip in serious condition. The boy was not injured.

Suffolk County Police First Squad detectives are investigating. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1.800.220.TIPS.

_{Top: A dated image of 678 Wellwood Ave. in Lindenhurst, which is on the corner of Wellwood and Gulf Street (Google Maps Street View).}