10-year-old Burlington County hero saves grandmother, several others
WESTAMPTON, N.J. (WTXF) - A story about a brave 10-year-old girl in Burlington County. She saw someone's life in danger and jumped out of a moving car to warn them.
Westampton Police say she saved several lives. They say a witness who could have been hit confirms what happened.
"She's my angel," said Valerie Ray. Tears filled her eyes looking at her 10-year old granddaughter Nakiya. She saved their lives Tuesday when her grandmother got sick driving her to school.
"My Nana was coughing and she couldn't really catch her breath," said Nakiya. She thought her Nana was having a seizure when she noticed her losing control of the wheel. Nakiya says Valerie hit another car and the car kept going, so Nakiya did the unthinkable for a 10-year old.
"I tried to steer the wheel and it worked. Then I tried to see which one was the brake so I pulled one of her feet up," said Nakiya. At that moment she noticed a man walking and her Nana's car rolling toward him. So she screamed out the window for the man to get out of the way and then made a desperate and dangerous move.
"I looked at her and I was like I can't do this. I don't know what to do so I unbuckled my seat belt and unlocked the door and jumped out," said Nakiya. Westampton Police say the car ran over a traffic sign and a metal fence before going off the road into a grassy field at Irick and Woodlane Road.
"Her goal was to save me and anybody that was within my path," said Valerie who calls her granddaughter a hero. She's been through a lot. Nakiya's mother died last month.
"She's like the only person I really got," said Nakiya. It's the reason she wanted desperately to save her Nana.
"Because the way she is and her personality and stuff. The way she loves me and I love her and the way she does things for me. I always have to look out for her," said Nakiya.
At the hospital, Valerie learned she had suffered a coughing panic attack. Nakiya is lucky. She only suffered scratches to her knee and wrist.