Good Samaritans Honored For Lifting Car Off Of Brooklyn Girl

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Six heroes who lifted a car off a 9-year-old girl in Brooklyn last month are being honored.

Tawaiian Holmes was riding her scooter on a sidewalk in Brownsville on Dec. 19 when she was caught up in a three-car accident.

Police said a livery cab struck a sedan and SUV at Livonia and Rockaway avenues when one of the vehicles jumped the curb and pinned the girl underneath.

The girl's mother E-Zara Paul said the incident still replays in her mind over and over again.

"All I see is her head underneath the car," Paul told WCBS 880's Alex Silverman.

Good Samaritan Russell Greene ran to the scene of the accident to help and at first didn't notice Tawaiian trapped under the vehicle.

"This is when she hit my leg and I didn't even see her," Greene said. "I tried to pick it up, I couldn't do it."

In seconds, five others jumped in to help Greene save the little girl.

"I grabbed her face and I told her to be calm, 'Do you like to jump rope?'" Greene recalled. "When I got the point where I couldn't medically treat her, it hurt it more and I had a limit."

Greene said he regrets there wasn't more he could do for the girl.

"I should've been a doctor. I feel like I should've known something else," Greene said.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz thanked the heroes for their actions and gave them special honors at a ceremony Tuesday at Borough Hall.

"Your actions are an inspiration to all of us and more proof that when we work together we can achieve anything," Markowitz said. "I'm proud to stand with six Brownsville heroes."

Both of Tawaiian's legs and her pelvis are broken, but she is recovering.

"I just want to say thank you for helping me with the car," Tawaiian told the group of men who saved her life.