RUGBY NEWS - The son of former Springbok and Blue Bulls rugby player Pedrie Wannenburg is in a critical but stable condition following a horrific crash that killed his father and injured four others in Houston, Texas, on Friday.
The 8-year-old Francois sustained serious head injuries when the car his father was driving was struck by a car driven by a teenager who was fleeing the police during a high-speed chase.
Both Francois and his father were airlifted to hospital, but only the young boy made it there alive.
During a phone call with his grandmother last night, Francois, who had regained consciousness after head surgery, said he was doing “goed” (good in Afrikaans) before falling asleep again.
“They are keeping him under sedation,” says a family member, Petro Wannenburg.
“We hope and pray that Francois will pull through,”
She told Pretoria Rekord that the boy sustained a severe head injury that doctors could only fully assess once he was awake.
She said doctors could only determine whether he had sustained brain damage when he regained consciousness. They put him back to sleep after he woke up to allow his head injuries to heal.
Petro said Pedrie’s mother was struggling to deal with her son’s death.
“Pedrie’s mother is taking it really bad. She can’t even have her phone on because all the newspapers are trying to contact her and it’s overwhelming. It’s a very big shock.”
The 16-year-old youth believed to be responsible for the car accident has since been arrested on charges of felony murder, reckless aggravated assault, serious bodily injury, and three counts of aggravated assault-bodily injury.
The high-speed chase started at around 05:45 on Friday when local police were conducting a stop and search operation.
The teenager is said to have lost control of his vehicle, which went airborne and struck Wannenburg’s car, after which it hit another vehicle carrying a mother and an infant.
The 41-year-old Wannenburg was declared dead on his way to hospital.
His wife Evette and their 10-year-old daughter, Isabelle, were unharmed.
According to eyewitness Steven Da Silva, he saw a car driving super-fast out of control, fly into the air and hit the car behind it.
“I stopped my truck and noticed two police officers that were chasing the vehicle.
“I ran out of my truck and rushed to the truck behind me that got struck when I heard a lady and a little girl’s voice calling ‘Help me’,” Da Silva said.
“I immediately noticed it was a whole family in the vehicle. The little girl and the wife asked me to take out the boy.
“I pulled what was left of the door and took off the boy’s seat belt, then I pulled him out and lay him on the ground while officers and tow truck drivers tried to aid the husband.”
