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Woman discovers small child stranded in the middle of the night

ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — A woman driving home in the middle of the night discovered a small child stranded in the cold without shoes or a coat.

He told her his mother was injured in a crash on Old Salem Road in Rockdale County and he needed help.

Holding back tears, Latoya Lewis told Channel 2's Nefertiti Jaquez she will never forget seeing the fear on a little boy's face, who said he was worried his mom was going to die.

“He kept crying and saying, 'My mommy is bleeding and I hope she doesn’t die,'” Lewis said.

She said she met the scared and injured boy after she spotted him wandering a dark street alone.

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"I could see his little hands and I thought, 'Oh my God, what the heck is going on?' I said, 'Are you OK?' He said, 'No, I’m freezing, my mom just crashed and no one would pull over,'" she said.

The crash happened along Old Salem Road around 2 a.m. as Lewis was returning home from a family gathering. Debris from where the crash happened is still littered across a wooded area.

“It threw me off, because at the time it was and he was by himself. We couldn’t even see her vehicle," she said.

Lewis, who is a certified nursing assistant said she quickly wrapped the boy in a sweater and placed him in the back of her car for warmth.

She said it took her about 15 minutes to find his mom’s minivan because she somehow lost control and crashed into a tree in the woods, off the roadway that is not lit at night.

Once she found the mangled minivan with his mom inside slumped over the wheel, she called 911 and Rockdale Sheriff’s deputies and medics arrived immediately.

The mother was flown by helicopter to Grady. The boy was also checked out.

"I hope he is OK, and his mom recovers fully," she said.

In all of this, those deputies also helped find the boy's puppy, which he had just gotten for Christmas.

As for Lewis, she's hoping that once mom recovers she'll get a chance to meet her and see that little boy again. She said, his bravery and his desire to help his mom has changed her life.