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Mother Of 3-Year-Old Boy Hurt When Car Jumped Curb In Brooklyn Speaks Out

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The mother of a Brooklyn toddler who was hit by a car on the sidewalk spoke out for the first time Tuesday.

As CBS2's Ilana Gold reported, Oscar Chen, 3 1/2, was back home from Lutheran Medical Center late Tuesday afternoon, with only a few scratches after a scare outside his apartment a day earlier.

"He's feeling much better today, much better," said his mother, Cindy Chen.

Oscar spent all night at the hospital following the accident, which was captured from beginning to end on surveillance cameras. The video shows Oscar playing on the sidewalk on Seventh Avenue and 51st Street in Sunset Park when out of nowhere, police say a driver trying to parallel park hit the gas instead of the brake.

The car flew onto the curb, taking out a tree right before striking the little boy and pinning him underneath.

"He said, 'Mama, I feel bad; scary,'" Cindy Chen said.

Oscar's grandmother had been watching him and in the video, she can be seen running over to help.

"My mom go there right away, but too late -- the car is so fast," Cindy Chen said.

Then, some good Samaritans try lifting the car off the trapped toddler. Tony Velasquez, an off-duty EMT, was one of them.

Mother Of 3-Year-Old Boy Hurt When Car Jumped Curb In Brooklyn Speaks Out

"I didn't see any obvious injuries as far as lacerations," he told 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa. "My main concern was his neck."

Another man told CBS2's Tracee Carrasco he took action to stabilize the boy.

"I grabbed his head, and at the same time we moved the child slowly out until the ambulance arrived," he said.

Oscar was taken to the hospital minutes later with only minor scrapes and bruises, thanks to those who jumped in to save him.

His mother was in disbelief.

"So scary, I don't know – how can I say, you know?" she told CBS2's Gold.

Chen received a call about the accident during her work trip in Virginia, and rushed home – not knowing what to expect. She saw the dramatic video soon afterward.

When asked what she would say to those who helped her son, she said, "Thank you so much. They help out a lot."

Police said the driver wasn't severely injured, and she will not face charges because the crash was accidental.

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