Quick-thinking bystanders lift car, rescue boy pinned under it
After he heard shouts and cries of shock Robin H. Nguyen said he slowed his car and stopped on Eastern Avenue in Chelsea. Unbeknownst to him, he said, he had struck a child Tuesday night.
"I saw the people come to my car, crying and yelling," the 47-year-old Saugus resident said in a telephone interview yesterday.
"I didn't know I hit the kid at all. . . . I [didn't] see the kid with the scooter at all," he said, adding, "How's the kid?"
Christian Rodriguez, 5, of Chelsea was trapped under Nguyen's car until police and bystanders lifted the vehicle and pulled the boy to safety. He was listed in serious condition yesterday at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
In interviews, Christian's relatives expressed gratitude to the people who helped rescue the boy, who police say was dragged at least 20 feet from the point of impact.
"We have immense gratitude for their efforts and everything they did," said Brenda Rodriguez, the child's cousin and godmother. Without their help, "I doubt he would be here with us," she said.
Relatives said that while the child has no broken bones, he has some internal bruises and a head injury. He is breathing on his own, they said, and has asked about his younger sister, who was walking with him, their mother, and a small group before he was hit.
"I thank God that now everything is positive," said Jose A. Rodriguez, who said he left his son's hospital bed Tuesday night because he was overcome with fear the boy would die. "Right now, he is doing well, but he is hurting."
One of those who rushed to help was Rafael Nerey,42, of Lynn. Nerey said he was standing outside the Dunkin' Donuts shop on Eastern Avenue with his friend, Rico Figueroa, and Figueroa's sister, Kathy, both of Chelsea, when he heard a thump and scraping metal. He looked into the street and saw a stopped car.
"I saw little arms and legs [poking from under the car], and I freaked out," he said in an interview.
Nerey, his friend, and another man rushed to the car. Chelsea police Officer Edward Marchese Sr., and retired Sergeant Joseph Fern were also in Dunkin' Donuts and raced to assist, said police Captain Brian Kyes.
Marchese got the stunned Nguyen out of the car, jumped into it, and put it in neutral. Nerey, Figueroa, and the unknown man lifted the front of the
"At that moment in time, that child was the most important thing in our world," said Nerey, who recently reenlisted in the Massachusetts National Guard.
Moments after the boy was freed, emergency workers rushed him to the hospital, where his condition had been upgraded from critical to serious yesterday, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Nerey, who is 5 foot 10 inches tall and weighs 178 pounds, said his arms and legs were sore yesterday. He was relieved to learn that Christian has improved. "I was praying to God, hoping he would come out of it OK," said Nerey.
In a brief telephone interview in Spanish, the boy's mother, Nancy Romero, said she was crossing Eastern Avenue with six people, including her three children. She said the light was red when they entered the street. "He disappeared," [under the car] she said of her son. "I ran as quick as I could to get to him and to get help."
Kyes said that the investigation is continuing and that police have eliminated speeding and drug or alcohol use as causes in the incident, which occurred just before 9 p.m.
He said witnesses told police that Nguyen, heading north on Eastern Avenue, stopped for a red light and started driving when the light changed to green.
The boy, who Kyes said was pushing his scooter and holding his mother's hand, was crossing from the west side of Eastern Avenue to the east when he was struck beyond the traffic signals. He did not ride his scooter into the street, Kyes said.
Kyes said the child and the people with him may not have been in the crosswalk when the boy was hit. Kyes said Nguyen has a valid driver's license.
Nguyen said he was headed north on Eastern Avenue when the group crossed the street from his left.
"I didn't even know they were there," he said.
John Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. 
