An 8-year-old boy from Woburn, Massachusetts, is recovering after a frightening incident in which he became tangled in his seat belt.
Siobhan Sherbovich called the Bedford Police Department Saturday after her son, Brayden, was strangled by the seat belt next to him in her Acura.
"He just said, 'Mom, I can't breathe, I'm stuck,'" Sherbovich recalled.
The seat belt, connected to the ceiling, was caught around the boy's neck, pulling him tighter as he pushed away.
"Before I could even process anything, he was basically hanging from the ceiling," Sherbovich said. "Unconscious, blue as can be, there was blood coming out from the pressure."
Sherbovich stopped outside a hair salon, banging on the door to get the attention of worker Elizabeth Costa.
"All I could think about was my 4-year-old screaming for me," Costa said Tuesday.
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Costa used a pair of scissors she had from an appointment to cut Brayden loose. His mother administered CPR before he was rushed to the hospital.
"In my 31 years of policing, I don't think I've ever heard this story," said Bedford Police Chief Robert Bongiorno.
Police are investigating how the incident happened, Bongiorno said. But he's urging parents to take extra precautions, like stocking their cars with safety kits that come with scissors.
"This could happen to anyone, and the main point is for people to be prepared," Sherbovich said. "I don't want another mom, I don't want another parent, to ever see their kid go through that. I don't want anyone to experience that."
NBC10 Boston reached out to Acura. The company said Tuesday it was still waiting for more details about what happened, sending instructions on how to use the vehicle's seat belt.
Police say they will be contacting state agencies to review the incident.
The NBC10 Boston Investigators asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration if similar cases had been reported. The agency said it had not received any complaints for seat belt entanglements in 2017 Acura MDX vehicles. The NHTSA added that it does not have any specific information about children being strangled by seat belts.
