Teen run over by NYPD School Safety van rescued by tow truck driver with great timing

NEW YORK -- The dramatic rescue of a teen trapped under a van in Brooklyn was caught on camera.

The stranger who stopped to help free him is speaking out.

The NYPD School Safety van had already struck the 13-year-old student on Coney Island Avenue when Izzy Weiss began taking a video.

But then, he watched the miracle rescue of the boy trapped under the van, thanks in part to the quick thinking of tow truck operator Jaswinder Singh.

"When I lifted the vehicle, I saw somebody under the vehicle," Singh said.

Singh, who works for Precision Collision in Richmond Hill, Queens, was driving past the accident and felt in his heart he had to stop and try to help.

"I didn't think twice. I did what my own heart tells me to do, to help somebody. And I help it," Singh said.

Haztalah EMTs were on the scene within minutes, and the first efforts to lift the van off the student were not successful, said Izzy Weiss, who filmed the incident.

That's when Singh backed his tow truck up to the van.

He then worked a lift under the front of the van.

"The van is too heavy. (And you figured that I have a lift why not use it?) My heart just tells me to do it, so I did it from my heart; I did it with the blessing," Singh said.

The student's clothing and backpack, Singh says, were caught under the van.

Firefighters then began arriving and the all-out effort was made to free the student.

"He was like, stuck under the vehicle. Because they tried to lift it up because he was stuck. So once I lifted up the vehicle he just falls down on the ground," Singh said.

First responders worked to stabilize the boy's condition and then placed him on a stretcher and rushed him to a waiting ambulance. He is said to have injuries to his pelvis. Singh has spoken to his father about visiting him.

"I'm sure a couple of more days and he feels better, I'm going to go see him," Singh said.

Thanks to Singh's quick thinking and listening to his heart.