Boy, 10, trapped as car rolls over him
Story Published on: 08/02/2001, Accident was on 08/01/2001
Story Courtesy the Trenton Times: http://www.nj.com
By MICHAEL RATCLIFFE
Staff Writer
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP -- A 10-year-old boy was trapped beneath a car last night after he reportedly slipped and fell as the car rolled down the driveway of his home.
Neighbors, police officers and firefighters teamed up to rescue the boy, who was rushed by ambulance to the trauma unit of a hospital in New Brunswick. His injuries were being evaluated last night but officials said they expected him to survive.
The boy, who neighbors identified as the stepson of township police Sgt. Chuck Petty, apparently was playing in front of the family's home on Annie Lane around 8 p.m. when the vehicle, a Chevy Malibu, slipped into neutral and started rolling down the driveway, according to neighbors who were at the scene.
The boy got behind the car, possibly trying to stop it from rolling, but slipped and fell and the vehicle rolled over top of him, the neighbors said.
The car came to a halt at the bottom of the driveway, partially in the roadway, with the 10-year-old trapped underneath, his head almost directly under the front seats and his legs under the engine compartment.
Chris Pangaldi, a lieutenant with Lawrence Road Fire Co. in Lawrence Township, was visiting his girlfriend's family on Annie Lane when he heard the sound of someone honking a car horn, presumably in an effort to summon help, he said.
Just then, Pangaldi said, his girlfriend's mother ran in and called 911, saying there had been an accident.
Pangaldi said he grabbed his fire company radio and ran out to investigate. He saw several people gathered around the Malibu, some trying to lift the car by hand, others trying to wedge a small carjack underneath.
Pangaldi used his radio to call Mercer County emergency dispatchers to request assistance but by then Washington Township police and firefighters, alerted at 8:06 p.m., already were en route.
Pangaldi said he checked the boy and, although his face was coated in blood, he was conscious. In an effort to keep the car from moving any farther, Pangaldi said, he and the others set the car's emergency brake and tried to wedge a piece of wood behind a tire.
Several police officers, Fire Chief Al Walker, and a fire engine then arrived, just three minutes after being dispatched.
Township firefighters finished stabilizing the Malibu, then used the neighbors' jacks and wooden blocks to raise the car up, but it was still not high enough.
Firefighters then used their new Holmatro spreader, a tool similar to the Jaws of Life, to raise the vehicle enough to reach the boy, Walker said. It was the first time the tool has been used at an actual emergency since it was purchased earlier this year, Walker said.
Working from different sides, Walker, Lt. Dennis Symons and firefighters Chuck Savoca, Charlie Realmonte Jr., Frank Petrangeli Jr. and Lori Bainbridge, as well as police officers and Mercer County paramedics, crawled underneath the car and carefully placed the boy onto a backboard, then slid him free at 8:28 p.m.
The boy was rushed by Allentown First Aid Squad to the trauma unit at the Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center in New Brunswick.
"This was an excellent team effort. The combined efforts of the civilians on scene, the police, emergency medical personnel and the fire department really made a difference and helped save a life tonight," Symons said.
Township police refused to released information about the accident last night.