Boy pinned, bystanders lend a hand

“Everyone was in panic mode,’’ said Jose Rivera, 64, of Framingham, who was on his way to get groceries when he came across the commotion. He jumped out of his car to help.

“There were not police officers there yet,’’ he said. “Everyone was saying, ‘What do we do? What do we do?’ ’’

The 7-year-old boy was unconscious beneath a Nissan Murano that had just run him over as he sprinted across the street to catch his school bus. The driver of the sport utility vehicle, Minarsin Rodriguez, stood next to the boy’s mother, both of them weeping hysterically.

“I hit a child! I hit a child!’’’ Rodriguez kept crying into her cellphone, her husband on the other end of the line.

When officers and firefighters arrived, rather than ordering the bystanders away, they did something unusual in a rescue ef fort: They asked for their help, and together the group mounted an extraordinary effort to save the young boy’s life, lifting the 4,000-pound vehicle just long enough to pull the child free.

The rescue began when Arthur Sistrand, the first officer on the scene, stepped out of his cruiser and the crowd waved him over, screaming that the boy was stuck under the right front wheel.

“I couldn’t tell whether he was breathing,’’ Sistrand said after he tried to help the boy, a second-grader at Brophy Elementary School in Framingham. “I was concerned.’’

Moments later, Framingham’s fire chief, Gary Dougherty, arrived. Then came police Sergeant Vincent Stuart and Officers Ed Burman and Chris Pisano.

It was just after 7:30 a.m. and the crowd gathered around the authorities as they tried to figure out how to free the boy. Neighbors identified him as Luis Sanchez, the oldest of three brothers who live in the Pelham apartment complex with their mother.

“The four [officers] tried to pull the car up,’’ Burman said. “But the four of us weren’t strong enough to lift it up.’’

Sistrand said: “We were stymied. . . . We really needed the help.’’

So Burman began yelling for the bystanders to help, and in seconds, there were many hands lifting on the passenger side of the white SUV. It was unclear how many bystanders pitched in, but it was enough. They heaved the vehicle high enough that the fire chief was able to slip underneath and pull the boy out. But he was unresponsive.

Dougherty began performing CPR immediately, while Burman ran to his cruiser to get a defibrillator. They ripped off the boy’s shirt and began attaching the defibrillator, but the machine said there was enough of a pulse that it wasn’t necessary.

As they performed CPR, paramedics arrived and the boy started to breathe on his own.

The driver’s husband, Luis Rodriguez, and her brother-in-law, Adonis, both rushed to the scene. Adonis Rodriguez and other witnesses said they saw Minarsin Rodriguez standing on the sidewalk clutching her 1-year-old son in her arms, while Sanchez’s mother, whom neighbors identified as Angela Jimenez, watched as the paramedics treated her son. They said the boy was on his back, his backpack 2 feet away.

“The first thing she worried about was the well-being of the child,’’ Adonis Rodriguez said of his sister-in-law, who could not be reached for comment. “It’s hard enough when you lose a life, and it’s harder losing a child’s life. Hopefully, he makes it through and continues a normal life.’’

When the paramedics stabilized Sanchez, they put him in an ambulance and took him to MetroWest Medical Center.

He was later transferred to the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, where he was in critical condition yesterday afternoon, said Anne O’Rourke, a hospital spokeswoman.

Framingham police Lieutenant Paul Shastany said the boy was on the east side of Second Street when he apparently saw the bus near his bus stop on the west side of the street. In full view of other children, parents, and others, the boy ran out from between cars into the path of the SUV, Shastany said.

Framingham school officials said they sent a crisis team to counsel children and staff at the elementary school.

“Whenever we’re dealing with a situation like this, it hits us all very seriously,’’ said Steven Hiersche, superintendent of Framingham Public Schools. “Our hearts are reaching out to the family and other children.’’

Shastany said it did not appear that Rodriguez was speeding or that she would face charges.

Rodriguez has a clean driving history with no infractions or outstanding traffic violations, according to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Jimenez, the boy’s mother, who neighbors said works at a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts, could not be reached for comment.

“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare is the classic expression,’’ Shastany said. “It’s a terrible, terrible tragedy . . . It appears from the initial investigation that he ran out without looking.’’

He added, “It looks like just a terrible accident.’’

Otto Urbina, the family’s next-door neighbor, described the boy as shy and an avid biker. He would often come to Urbina’s home for cookies.

But he said he has had to chastise him in the past for not taking more care while crossing streets. “They’re just kids,’’ he said. “I tell them don’t run into the street.’’

John R. Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report.