The aunt of a 5-year-old boy says it was a miracle her nephew escaped with only bumps and bruises after being hit by a car and trapped under it on a busy Christchurch road.
Niko Cooke was riding his scooter to school with his aunt, Rebecca Cooke, when the incident happened on Ferry Rd yesterday morning.
Cooke said she was only metres away from her nephew when she suddenly lost sight of him.
“It just happened so fast,” Cooke said.
“It was like one minute he’s scootering and then ‘boom’, I couldn’t find him.
“I thought he actually did bounce, like maybe he went over the other side of the road.”
She said she began frantically searching the road before someone told her Niko was trapped beneath the car that had struck him.
“The driver actually went to jump back in; he was going to try and reverse off him,” she said.
“I had to actually stop him and say, ‘No you’re not, because you could kill him’.”
Neighbour Mohammed Khan rushed to help after hearing a woman screaming outside his home.
With Niko pinned beneath the vehicle and bystanders calling out, Khan ran to his car to grab a jack and lift the vehicle.
Cooke said the next moment she remembered was her nephew being placed onto her knees.
“I was shocked, but I got told he crawled out from under that car straight to me.”
She said she had been bracing herself for serious injuries, particularly given Niko had been trapped.
“We got to the hospital, beautiful nurses and doctors there, and they did everything,” she said.
“After about an hour and a half, they come back to us and they were white as a ghost.
“They just said, he’s a miracle, there’s no injuries apart from his grazes and his bumps and quite a bit of bruising, but no internal bleeding, no broken bones.
“They were like, ‘we don’t know how that happened because it should have been worse’.
“They just said he was all good to go, the blood work was good, X-rays and scans were good, and just let his body rest.”
Despite the ordeal, Cooke said Niko had only one thing on his mind when it was time to go home.
“All he cared about was getting to school and his scooter,” she said.
Cooke also thanked the community members who stepped in to help, including families from Niko’s school.
“A family went out and bought him a brand new scooter and another family went out and bought him a helmet,” she said.
“They didn’t have to do that because me and my sister-in-law were actually going to go buy him a new one next week, but I guess we don’t have to now because someone was so kind to go out and do it.
“It really made my day how a community can get together and put everything aside just to help one child.
“I am so grateful and I can’t give them enough ‘thank yous’ like I want to, because there are not enough.”
She also urged drivers to remain vigilant, particularly during school hours.
Niko knew to check driveways as he rode, Cooke said, but she wanted to remind motorists that children could easily be distracted during the morning rush.
“He did look up every driveway, except that one driveway he forgot, which is normal for a 5-year-old because, you know, they’re so excited.
“It was an accident and I will forgive, but be more vigilant, especially between 8am and 9am when lots of little kids are going to school.
“If you’re going to be late, you’re going to be late, you don’t need to rush because if you don’t rush, you can save a life.”