A YOUNG family was almost killed yesterday when a driver sped his car off a wharf -- less than a metre from where two children were fishing.
Witnesses described how the Subaru Liberty sped on to Darwin's Fishermans Wharf about 4.10pm - and the driver allegedly "floored it".
The man, believed to be aged 39, missed a young family by less then a metre as the car slammed into a wooden guard and catapulted into Darwin Harbour.
Palmerston mother Nicole Dorante, 30, was fishing with two young children when the car flashed by.
She was hit by the wooden barrier, which was flung up after it was hit by the car.
Luckily, her children, who were sitting nearby, were not in the path of the car.
"We were just sitting here fishing with the kids," she said.
"I turned around and he was accelerating towards us.
"He just missed me (by) less than a metre."
Her husband Robert, 29, said he was shaken by the near miss.
"How could something like this happen here?" he said.
"We come down here all the time on a Sunday."
Eyewitness Warren Shackleton, 51, said he saw the driver just swim away from his sinking car after the incident.
"I heard this mighty roar, like a jet engine," he said.
"He got faster and faster and went straight through the guardrail.
"When he got out of the water, he acted like it was a big joke.
"We asked him what he was thinking and he said, 'Did I kill them? So what'.
"Then he wanted to fight me."
Mr Shackleton, holidaying from Perth, said he was "disgusted".
"I knew there were people around and I thought, 'He is going to kill someone'," he said.
"He gave us a big shock and it was a miracle no one was killed."
Darwin Police Watch Commander senior sergeant Bob Harrison said a man was being psychiatrically assessed at Royal Darwin Hospital last night following the incident.
Sen-Sgt Harrison last night said no one had been arrested and charges had not been laid.
Bob.
