The aunty of 5 year old Nico Cooke has spoken of the remarkable and unexpected outcome after her nephew was hit by a car exiting a driveway and dragged underneath, leaving him trapped beneath the vehicle.

Nico had been riding his scooter to school, while his aunty Rebeca Cooke, walked along side him when the frightening incident unfolded on Ferry Road.

 

Cooke told chrislynchmedia.com she heard a sudden impact but initially could not see where Nico had gone.

“Out of the blue I just heard bang and I couldn’t find him and it turned out he was actually under the car,” Cooke said.

She said the moment became even more distressing when she realised where he was.

“At the time I didn’t know he was under the car. She thought he’d been hit and flew across the road till a witness said he was under the car.

And that’s when I went hysterical and like get the bloody car off him.”

Cooke said bystanders quickly stepped in as the seriousness of the situation became clear.

“What gutted me was the driver was going to jump back in and reverse off him and we had to stop him and say ‘You’re not getting in that car and reversing over him again. You’re going to give us your keys and get the jack so we can jack your car up and get your the child out from under the car.’”

She said the driver retrieved a jack from his vehicle and members of the public worked together to lift the car, allowing Nico to crawl free.

“Bystanders jacked the car up and Nico come crawling out,” Cooke said.

Remarkably, the 5-year-old was able to stand after emerging from beneath the vehicle.

“He has no broken bones no internal bleeding just a lot of cuts and grazes. They said he’s a miracle. He’s a miracle child absolute miracle.”

Cooke said even police struggled to explain how Nico avoided more serious harm.

“Even the police told me that how he survived with no internal injuries is it’s a miracle. You just can’t explain it considering it was a low car.”

Nico’s mother was in Australia attending their dad’s 70th birthday when the incident happened, forcing Cooke to make what she described as a difficult phone call.

Despite the ordeal, Nico’s focus quickly returned to normal childhood comforts. “So he’s at the hospital playing on the phone waiting for McDonald’s,” Cooke said. She said the young boy had also been asking about school and his scooter following the crash.

Cooke expressed deep gratitude to those who rushed to help, particularly a witness believed to be named James and a nearby neighbour who assisted with lifting the vehicle.

“Thank you so much because I’m so grateful to them. If it wasn’t for them it would have been a worse outcome,” she said.

Nico was expected to be discharged from hospital later in the day if his condition remained stable.

Te Waka Unua School Principal Janeane Reid said “the well-being of our students is always our top priority and we are very saddened by this incident.

“We have support available for those students who witnessed the incident and the Ministry of Education has been prompt to offer further support as needed.”

Reid said “we are very grateful for all those community members who witnessed the incident and offered help, especially those that supported and guided our other students arriving at school past and safely into school this morning.

“How our community steps up and wraps around each other during these times shows the real strength of our village. Our little boy is now in the hands of the professionals up at the hospital and we will support the whānau during his recovery.”