A one-year-old girl is recovering after she was accidentally hit by a Boston police cruiser on Monday. The incident, which was caught on camera, happened in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood when the little girl wandered in front of the police cruiser just as it was pulling out.
The video is disturbing, to say the least, and can be found on local news outlet NBC10. Footage shows the officer pulling away from the curb just as the little girl is in front of his cruiser. She tumbles under the vehicle before rolling to the side. Amazingly, she only suffered a broken collarbone from the impact. A man standing nearby rushed to her aid and held her until the ambulance arrived.
Chris Pendigrast told NBC10 that he didn’t think twice about helping the girl. Since he has four boys of his own, he says his parental instincts kicked in. Pendigrast explained that he found the girl with bruises on her head and tire marks on her body; she was also bleeding when he reached her.
The girl’s mother was understandably distraught and can be seen running toward the officer in the video. She jumps at him before running back to her daughter.
Boston Police Commissioner William Gross released a statement saying that he was happy the child was recovering, and that the department is investigating the incident. These types of incidents appear to be rare for Boston police, who are more likely to be injured themselves instead of dealing the harm themselves. For her part, the little girl is expected to make a full recovery according to her mom, who says, “She’s doing OK. She’s doing all right. She just asks for a speedy recovery, that’s it.”