6-year-old boy severely burned trying to protect younger brother in car fire

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO/Gray News) – A 6-year-old boy was severely burned as he tried to shield his 4-year-old brother from flames when their mother’s car caught fire in a parking lot.

Lesha Newson left her two sons in the car when she went into a store to pick up a prescription, WOIO reports.

When she came out of the store, she saw her car on fire.

Newson said Dean, 6, put his brother, Elijah, 4, in the trunk and stood in front of him so he wouldn’t get burned.

“That’s very selfless for a 6-year-old,” Newson said.

A few good Samaritans helped rescue Elijah who told them his brother was still in the car.

“Right as they pulled Dean out of the car, it exploded,” Newson said.

He is recovering from second and third-degree burns on his face, arms and legs at Metro Health in Cleveland.

“He said, ‘I’m Spider-Man, Mom. I saved my brother.’ That was the first thing he said to me when we got here and he woke up,” Newson said.

Newson said she learned a lot from this heart-dropping experience and won’t leave her children unattended in the car again.

“In three minutes, you never know what can happen,” she said.

Newson said she bought her car two months ago. It is unclear how the fire started.

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