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A lesson well-learned
Somewhere, Brent Moral picked up a knowledge of 911 By SARAH
ANTONACCI Maybe it was the discussions the family had had about calling 911 in an emergency. Or maybe it was a recent visit with the scouts to Springfield Fire Station No. 7. Whatever it was, Laura Moral said Wednesday she’s glad her 6-year-old son, Brent, knew how to react when she became trapped under her minivan Tuesday and screamed for help. "I just asked him to go get help, and he just said, ‘OK, Mommy, I’ll be right back.’ I couldn’t tell where he went because I was under the car. I didn’t even ask him about it," Moral said. Brent, a first-grader at Blessed Sacrament School, apparently knew what to do without asking. He went straight inside, picked up a phone and dialed 911. Emergency dispatchers were able to get vital information from him that allowed them to rescue his mother. Moral, of the 1800 block of Windycrest Drive, had gone out to the family’s 1998 Toyota Sienna Tuesday morning and strapped her two youngest into their car seats while Brent belted himself in. She tried to start the van, but the engine wouldn’t turn over. Assuming the battery was dead, Moral, 35, put the minivan in neutral and started pushing it out of the garage in hopes of getting a jump-start. But the driveway was on an incline, and when the van hit the steeper portion, it began to get away from her. Moral was pulled underneath the vehicle and dragged to the bottom of the driveway near the curb, where she became pinned, the van resting on her chest. "I just started screaming because all the neighbors were in their houses and I was under the van," she said. "I didn’t think anyone could hear me, but (Brent) must have, because he took his belt off, got out of the van and leaned underneath and asked me if I was OK." Moral said she told him she was OK, but that he needed to get her some help. "I didn’t even think about 911 because he had an uncle and cousins inside the house. He didn’t wake any of them up. He went straight to the phone and called 911," she said. "I was very impressed. I thought he’d wake up his uncle." Police said Tuesday that Brent was a little excited when he called, but that he was able to calm down and provide pertinent information. In the meantime, a neighbor also saw what was happening and notified authorities. Soon, Moral heard sirens — and was relieved. Luckily, she was not seriously injured and returned home Wednesday sore from cuts and bruises but with no broken bones. Moral said she and her husband, Alex, had talked to their three children about the importance of 911, that Brent had learned about it in school and that, in January, he visited the fire station at 1428 S. Glenwood Ave., where scouts had to repeat what they’d do in an emergency. She said that was likely fresh in his mind. "He thought of calling 911 on his own," she said. "He did a good job." Sarah Antonacci can be reached at 788-1529 or sarah.antonacci@sj-r.com. (This article was in the State Journal-Register) |