It happened early Saturday morning on 46th Street and Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, where the boy, visiting from Queens, was crossing the street with his grandparents and mom from one uncle's house to the other when they were mowed down by a speeding mid-size sedan.
[Ads /]
Mottasim Mouhammed, the mother of the 4-year-old boy and daughter of the 56-year-old grandmother, was in shock at the horrific incident.
"I was thinking my mom is dead," she said. "I was thinking my son is OK, but (he's) not. But I want to, as soon as possible, arrest."
ALSO READ | FEMA grants available for victims of Ida flooding in parts of NYC, NJ
Mayor, AOC survey Ida devastation in Queens
Forhad Ahmed, the boy's uncle, says the child has severe brain damage and clinging to life.
Doctors need to wait another week before they can perform another surgery.
"We don't know about the nephew," he said. "The nephew is really in pain. He wake up and start crying, start crying. He doesn't know nothing about the world."
He says the grandmother has no recollection of what transpired.
[Ads /]
"She doesn't remember anything," he said. "She's saying, 'Why am I here?' or anything like this. 'I'm really, I'm healthy person, why am in the hospital?' Things like this. She's in really pain, deep pain."
The boy's two uncles had just moved to New Jersey, they say for a better life, and he had celebrated his 4th birthday last Friday.
ALSO READ | Garage collapse sends car toppling into neighboring apartments in Inwood
Garage wall collapse sends car toppling into neighboring apartments
The vehicle nearly hit his mother, but instead, she was left in the street holding the two victims.
"How would he feel if he has son or daughter," Mottasim Mouhammed said. "How he feel?"
[Ads /]
No arrests have been made, and the prosecutor's office says the investigation is ongoing.
----------
* Get Eyewitness News Delivered
* More New Jersey news
* Send us a news tip
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
* Follow us on YouTube
Submit a News Tip