The shocking moment a toddler in a diaper wandered into the path of oncoming traffic at a busy Arizona intersection was been caught on camera.
Terrifying dash cam footage showed the youngster hobbling into the highway near 96th Street and University Drive in Mesa before dawn on Friday.
A woman filming erupted into howling screams as the young child walked into the road and an SUV swerved to narrowly avoid striking them.
‘When you look at the video, I’m completely hysterical because I feel hopeless,’ the female motorist told Arizona Family.
‘I felt like I was mentally preparing myself to watch a child be crushed,’ she added.
The motorist said her seven-year-old son was in the back seat at the time so she couldn’t leave her vehicle in the middle of the road to leap out and help.
She could only watch helplessly and honk her horn at the little boy in the hopes of scaring him back to the sidewalk.
The video shows her screaming and honking before the toddler looks her way and pauses, while cars swerve suddenly, missing him by just inches.
As the toddler only narrowly avoids death, a female pedestrian can be seen running after him before picking him up and carrying him to the sidewalk.
It’s unclear whether the pedestrian is a bystander or the child’s mother.
‘I’m feeling overwhelmed, but just happy that the kind woman was willing to sacrifice her life to go into the road and grab him,’ the motorist who filmed the ordeal told Arizona Family.
The newspaper also spoke with the boy’s father, who said he wasn’t home at the time of the incident.
He said his wife had been taking care of their children that day – the two-year-old toddler and nine-month-old son – but left the house momentarily.
The stunned father said he only knew they left the house when he got a Ring camera notification showing a woman carrying his son.
He added that his wife has been suffering with postpartum depression and she forgot to lock the door.
‘We don’t understand the full extent of her struggles, but as a community, we should be extending grace and approaching her situation with compassion but still fully holding her accountable,’ said the woman who caught the incident on her dashcam.
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said they are considering submitting endangerment charges. The investigation is ongoing.