Rebecca Cooper, a woman with multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease, used her walking stick to save a toddler from running headfirst into oncoming traffic in Melbourne's southwest. The incident was captured on dashcam footage on Morris Road in Hoppers Crossing.
Dashcam captures the rescue
Cooper was on her way to buy a lottery ticket when she saw the young child dashing around a corner towards the road. The dashcam audio records her saying, 'Why is there a small child?' before she shouts, 'Wait, stop, stop, stop' and opens her car door.
Unable to run due to her conditions, Cooper relied on her walking stick. She told 7News, 'He was so fast, he had that run, like he was forward-facing and he was just off. I couldn’t run because I have a walking stick, so I got out and I just then grabbed my walking stick and used it to pull the poor little kid in.'
Walking stick 'came in handy'
Cooper admitted she usually 'hates' using her walking stick but was grateful for it in that moment. 'It came in handy,' she said.
Shortly after, the boy's mother arrived and was reunited with her son. Cooper noted the mother was distraught and didn't have a chance to say thank you. 'I think she was just thinking ‘I’ve got my child back’ because she really grabbed him,' Cooper added.
