A 13-year-old boy has been arrested after four people were run over in a series of hit-and-run incidents.
The crashes happened over the course of just three hours on Friday morning in Boston and Alford, Lincolnshire.
Police said they suspect a black Range Rover may have been involved in each of these incidents.
The schoolboy was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving whilst unfit through drugs, driving without a licence or insurance and aggravated vehicle taking.
He was later released on bail.
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Describing the crashes in an appeal for information, police said they had received reports of a driver knocking cyclists off their bikes and hospitalising one of them.
Lincolnshire Police investigating officer Sgt Billy Spence, said: ‘I appreciate this is an unusual and, most likely, a worrying set of incidents for people who may been in the area at the time, and we are of course sending our best wishes and thoughts to those injured for a quick and full recovery.
He said a boy was ‘helping us with our enquiries, and we are keeping an open mind about the exact events of today, but we believe these incidents are linked’.
The first crash was reported at 6.44am on Friday on Priory Road in Boston, where a male cyclist was seriously injured after being knocked off his bike and the vehicle drove away.
Then, at 8.20am, reports came in about another male cyclist who was knocked down in the nearby town of Alford by the Range Rover that did not stop.
Twenty minutes later an elderly man was crashed into by a vehicle that did not stop, also in Alford, and that nearly hit a small child on the scene.
And at 10.04am another incident was reported in Alford, after a vehicle knocked another cyclist off his bike.
The 13-year-old was arrested in Louth, about a 20 minute drive north of the last crash.
Sgt Spence continued: ‘We do need the help of the public in order to make sure we have as much information and evidence as possible in order to carry out a thorough enquiry.
‘If you have any dashcam footage, CCTV, witnesses, or any other information that could help and haven’t already spoken to us we would appreciate you getting in touch.’
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