Wednesday morning, Tyler Gianchetta was in the car with his mother on his way to a doctor’s appointment. What happened next is a blur.
Authorities believe that Susan Gianchetta, 50, had some type of medical episode that led to her losing control of the car. With her son in the passenger seat, the car crashed violently into a tree, and began to catch on fire. As we saw with this heroic police officer in a similar situation, those flames can move very quickly.
Tyler, who is on the autism spectrum, turned his powers of concentration and problem-solving to the dilemma at hand. Aware that the car could go up at any moment, he started shouting for helping and dragging his mother out of the car at the same time.
Somewhere along the way, he broke his arm, but he managed to free his mom just seconds before the car was engulfed in flames. Meanwhile, neighbors and passing motorists had arrived, and, as in the case of little Madelyn, began dialing 911.
While Tyler’s actions were undeniably heroic, don’t call him a hero. He says he’s not a hero until his mom recovers. “I’m getting the hero treatment, and I’m not a hero yet until I know she’s OK. I know she’s alive, that’s step one, get her OK, that’s step two,” he said.
She’s currently listed in serious condition, with a broken hip and neck, and internal injuries. Her condition does seem to be improving steadily; we hope that Tyler will have reason to be more comfortable with his nickname soon.
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