Eight-year-old girl's 'quick thinking' helps save great-grandmother, 79, who was trapped under SUV
WEST BLOOMFIELD, MICHIGAN: An eight-year-old girl helped save her 79-year-old great-grandmother's life about two weeks ago. The girl, identified only as Mariah, is now being lauded for her quick thinking.
The youngster recalled how her great-grandmother Patricia Lynch had picked her up from school and was dropping her off at her West Bloomfield home on January 11. After the duo pulled up to the driveway of Mariah's residence, Patricia got out of the SUV, a blue Chevy Equinox, while her great-granddaughter was still inside. It was then that things took an ugly turn.
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"She thought her car was in park but it was in reverse," Mariah told ABC's 'Good Morning America'. "It started moving and she tried to stop it and she fell and the tire [went] over her foot." The eight-year-old sprang into action, remembering what she had seen her mother and other elders do often. "I pulled the keys out [of the ignition]," she said. "I didn't know her foot was under there but I knew she could still get hurt because her body was under there." The second grader then got out of the SUV and ran to alert her mother, Porchia Lane, who was fortunately at home at the time of the incident. Mariah was seen on the family's Ring doorbell camera as she dashed toward the front door.
"I thought it was a normal drop off and when I opened the door, I still didn't hear her screaming initially," Porchia recalled. "I thought, 'Well, maybe my grandmother was having a hard time pulling up the driveway' because it's a little hill. As I got closer to the car, that's when I began to hear Mariah scream and I saw my grandmother's shoes in the middle of the driveway. I couldn't even see her yet. So I was just in disbelief." The mother said she found her grandmother parallel to the vehicle. Patricia's foot and leg had gotten stuck underneath the car, but she had somehow managed to pry herself out. "Mariah was able to go grab a towel. We wrapped her leg up and caught the ambulance," Porchia recounted, adding, "She really thought fast."
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Mariah remembered feeling scared and nervous at the time but was relieved when she and her mom were able to visit her great-grandmother at Trinity Health Oakland Hospital. Porchia said her grandmother did not suffer any broken bones "by the grace of God," albeit she did have to get stitches and blood infusions for bruises, blisters, and blood loss. The 79-year-old was ultimately discharged last week and the family is now helping her transition to physical therapy and recovery.
Porchia said she felt "proud" of her daughter's quick thinking and had a message for other parents. "Know that your kids are always paying attention. I really talked to Mariah and instilled in her to just follow her heart and make the right decisions," she said. "It just makes me proud that she just was able to think fast and she probably was calmer than me in this situation because I would have been frantic."