It’s easy to lose faith in humanity with all of the negative news that we’re bombarded with on a daily basis. However, sometimes, there’s a glimmer of hope, and people pleasantly surprise us with acts of kindness. After last week’s story about a three-legged dog that learned to walk upright like a human after a car accident, we have another heartwarming canine-related car story — straight from the streets of Brooklyn, New York. A dog and a child, trapped under a car that accidentally ran them over, were saved by the cast and crew of the Gravesend TV show. 

‘Gravesend’ cast and crew filmed in Brooklyn — and then crash!

On November 9, the cast and crew of Gravesend, including William DeMeo, an actor and creator of the series, filmed a scene at a recreated video store in Brooklyn, as detailed by ABC7NY. The mob drama depicts the Gravesend neighborhood of Brooklyn in the 1980s. 

It was a typical day of filming for the Gravesend cast and crew. In the scene, DeMeo walked into the video store and spoke to a worker. DeMeo recalled that he was very excited because his mother would make a cameo in the scene. All of a sudden, in the middle of filming the scene, there was a loud crash.

DeMeo stated that, initially, they didn’t think too much about it because they didn’t see a crash. They looked out onto the street but didn’t see anything. 

Out-of-control driver runs over a boy and his dog 

According to the New York Police Department, a 14-year-old boy was walking his dog on a sidewalk. An 80-year-old female driver lost control of her Chevy SUV after the brakes failed. The SUV slammed into another car and then careened onto the sidewalk, running over and trapping the child and his dog underneath the SUV. 

Michele Frantzeskos, a producer for Gravesend, walked out onto the street, heard bystanders yelling, and saw the crash scene. She quickly helped the 80-year-old driver and her 85-year-old male companion out of the car, who were transported to a local hospital. Then, Frantzeskos heard a voice. She stated, “I heard the child screaming, ‘Help me, help me!’ and went underneath the car and saw the child there.”

A dozen people lifted up the SUV and rescued the child and his dog

Frantzeskos then alerted DeMeo to the situation and requested help from other crew members. They moved quickly to the crash scene to gauge the situation. DeMeo stated, “There was a kid under a car with his legs dangling, and his mother was in hysterics screaming, ‘My son, he’s only 14! He’s only 14, and he’s underneath the car.'”

Around a dozen people, including the Gravesend crew and people from the neighborhood in Brooklyn, lifted the SUV up to rescue the boy and his dog. With the car raised, the boy safely escaped. The dog, after its leash was released, escaped as well. 

Paramedics transported the 14-year-old child to the hospital. Despite some injuries, he was recovering. “It was a tragic thing, but in the end, it’s miraculous. He’s alive and he’s OK. And we can’t wait to see him, have him come down to the film set,” said Frantzeskos. She also added that the dog is fine and didn’t experience any major injuries.

Altruistic behavior shines a positive light on Brooklyn 

DeMeo, a Brooklyn native, described how the people coming together to rescue the child and his dog reminded him of what the community was like growing up as a kid. It was like “old-school Brooklyn.” 

“For this to happen right in the neighborhood in ‘Gravesend’ — it just goes to show like how the neighborhood and the community came together. It was pretty miraculous. I grew up in a neighborhood where everyone stuck together. You knew everybody on every block.”

– William DeMeo, actor and creator of Gravesend

DeMeo also hopes that the altruistic behavior gives people a more positive representation of the film industry. This is especially crucial in the wake of the incident with Alec Baldwin and the fatal shooting of a cinematographer after an accidental discharge of a prop gun on the set of the film Rust. 

The altruistic behavior of the cast and crew of Gravesend and members of the Brooklyn community show that there is still hope for humanity in these strange times. A boy and his dog survived to live another day thanks to an act of kindness.