PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) – A 10-year-old boy who was hit in the head by debris is among the nearly two dozen people who were injured when an air ambulance carrying a pediatric patient and her mother crashed in Philadelphia.
Andre Howard, 10, was in the car Friday with his father and siblings when an air ambulance crashed in a northeast Philadelphia neighborhood. The boy is among at least 22 people on the ground who were injured. All six people onboard the jet and at least one person on the ground were killed.
“Hear what we thought was a car crash, but then, you see a fury of fire in the air and then a bunch of debris shooting everywhere,” said the boy’s father, Andre Howard.
The father says he tried using a nearby building to shield the family from flying debris.
“My son… tells his little sister, ‘Get down,’ and he grabs her. I hear the glass shatter. I turn around. There’s a piece of metal sticking out of my son’s head from the plane,” the elder Andre Howard said.
A bystander on the street took the shirt off his back to help apply pressure to the younger Andre Howard’s head. Then, a Philadelphia police officer rushed the family to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital, where the 10-year-old underwent emergency surgery.
“They pretty much told us my son wasn’t supposed to make it. Jefferson also told us they didn’t do children trauma surgeries, but they did for us, which was nothing but God,” the elder Andre Howard said.
Doctors initially told the family the younger Andre Howard would never walk again, but after being transported to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the 10-year-old made miraculous strides overnight.
“To face death yesterday and speaking today, stepping up for his little sister like I train him and his other brothers to do off of instinct? He’s my hero,” the elder Andre Howard said.
Lashawn Hamiel, the boy’s mother, also calls him a superhero and says he is doing well as he recovers, even though it’s a difficult time for the family.
“My baby in there, it’s hard seeing him like that. As a mother, what am I supposed to do? But he’s good. He’s pushing through,” she said. “He’s strong. He’s a jokester, but he’s strong.”
Hamiel says doctors are working to keep her son stable and comfortable as they work to figure out the next steps in terms of care. The boy is one of five people injured in the crash who remained hospitalized as of Sunday.
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