The rescuer who plucked a toddler from a horror crash which killed his grandparents has revealed how the child’s parents have been shattered by the tragedy.
Full-time carer Tracey Jean, 56, rushed to cradle the two-year-old boy after a 91-year-old woman driver lost control of her Toyota Yaris near a Wantirna South playground in Melbourne’s east.
The car mowed down all three from behind as they walked through the park on Thursday afternoon, fatally injuring the elderly Asian-heritage grandparents.
She shielded the youngster from seeing his dying grandparents, and has kept in touch with his family as the toddler recovered at the Royal Children’s Hospital.
‘They are beyond devastated,’ she told Daily Mail Australia on Monday.
‘They’re beautiful people, and they need time to process this, and they just need time to deal with it, if they will ever deal with it – I don’t know.’
Ms Jean has said she will now remain lifelong friends with the toddler’s ‘brave’ parents and vowed to offer them any help she can as they deal with the aftermath.
‘I’m here for them,’ she said. ‘The very brave parents have allowed me to see the little man, and I did see him yesterday, he’s good.’
Full-time carer Tracey Jean, 56, (pictured) rushed to cradle the two-year-old boy after the crash and shielded the youngster from seeing his dying grandparents
The 91-year-old woman driver’s silver Yaris smashed into a park bench metres from a playground
The car mowed down all three (pictured in CCTV footage) as they walked through the park on Thursday afternoon, fatally injuring the elderly Asian-heritage grandparents
Ms Jean said she reunited with the little boy on Sunday afternoon after he was released from hospital.
‘[The boy] is very, very connected with his parents, very wrapped in his parents, which is great,’ she added.
‘I will help them but they need to be left alone for now, until they are ready, and I’m more than happy to speak to whoever for them.’
She said the family have just been focused on their loss and what happened to their son rather than the elderly driver of the car which hit them.
‘I haven’t really heard anything about the driver and to be honest, I’ve just got those parents and that little boy in my heart,’ she added.
The vehicle careered 200m along the nature strip, knocking down a street sign and smashing through a fence before it crashed into a park bench just metres from a playground.
The grandmother died at the scene, while her husband lost his fight for life in hospital surrounded by loved ones two days later.
Ms Jean told Daily Mail Australia she was one of the first people who rushed to the crash scene.
Emergency services rushed to the aid of the 91-year-old driver (pictured)
Ms Jean said she heard a loud bang shortly after she arrived at her parents’ home just before 12.30pm on Thursday.
“I was around here when the accident happened on Thursday, I didn’t actually see it, I heard a loud bang and came out, the accident had already happened,’ Ms Jean told the Daily Mail Australia.
‘I walked around the corner to where the car came from and there were two people lying on the ground and a little boy under a tree.
‘I just went for the little boy and just tried to comfort him as much as I could because he was only two years old.’
Ms Jean said the boy was crying and had grazes on his face but he was standing when she first laid eyes on him.
‘He was crying, he had some grazes on his face, but he was actually standing when I saw him, so I just knelt down in front of him, and that’s when he wrapped his arms around me and just gave me a cuddle, and then I just held on to him,’ she said.
Ms Jean said paramedics rushed to help the boy’s grandparents before turning their attention to the toddler.
‘They didn’t actually realise at first that the little boy was in the accident,’ she said.
The crash happened near a Wantirna South playground in Melbourne’s outer-east (pictured)
A floral tribute has been started near where the horror accident took place
‘They were too busy with all the other things going on, yeah, it was a horrible, horrific scene.’
Ms Jean showed Daily Mail Australia how the out-of-control car mounted the kerb near her parents’ home and crashed into the family who were metres away walking by a neighbouring home.
‘The car came onto the footpath along here, I found the little boy under that tree just over there [on a neighbour’s property],’ Ms Jean said.
‘His pusher was scattered around here, and grandma and grandpa went down that way a little bit further.’
A floral tribute has been started near the spot where the car struck the family.
A young girl stopped to add a flower to the tribute which Ms Jean described as ‘beautiful’.
Ms Jean previously fought back tears as she revealed harrowing details about the family’s pain.
‘The (boy’s) mum was texting me while she was in the hospital saying goodbye to her dad,’ Ms Jean told media. ‘She told me that her dad is now with her mum.’
Local mother Katie Mahon (pictured) started a floral tribute in the little park near the bench where the elderly driver’s vehicle finally came to a halt
The remains of the park bench before it was removed by council workers
Local mother Katie Mahon started a floral tribute in the little park near the bench where the elderly driver’s vehicle finally came to a halt.
She said it was ‘extremely lucky’ no one else was killed or seriously injured as the playground was usually full of kids, especially during school holidays.
‘Thank goodness she’s gone through the fence and stopped at the bench,’ Ms Mahon said.
‘It’s extremely lucky no more people were hurt, this playground is usually packed with 20 kids, as a mum it’s very scary.’
Ms Mahon said she has lived in the area with her children and toy poodle Murphy for five years and the road where the accident occurred is known by locals as a notorious stretch for hoons, with several accidents over the years.
‘My son said to me, “Mum, I don’t want to live on that road”,’ she said.
Neighbour Maggie, who described the accident as ‘tragic’, said her friend regularly saw the victims walking and pushing the toddler around the area but neither she nor various other locals knew them personally.
Knox City Council had already repaired the street sign and playground fence since the accident while the Daily Mail Australia witnessed workers remove the crushed bench from the park.
Locals are grieving over the tragedy which left two people dead
Debris including fragments of the car could be seen around the bench prior to its removal.
Police are yet to interview the elderly driver, who remains in hospital, and there has so far been no explanation why she lost control of the vehicle.
The fatal crash has renewed calls for the Victorian state government to overhaul retesting requirements on elderly drivers.
Unlike other states and territories, there is no requirement for medical assessments or tests beyond a certain age.
In the wake of the tragedy, Acting Premier Ben Carroll indicated support for more frequent retesting of elderly drivers to ensure they’re fit to drive, in line with other states and territories.
‘In relation to people who are elderly and driving, I think it is a valid question … around testing,’ Carroll told reporters on Friday.
‘There are a range of initiatives in place through our general practitioners right around Victoria when it comes to making sure that Victorians continue to get tested for their driver’s licence.’
