Continued Tefillos for Boy Dragged By Van and Pinned Under Vehicle

Lakewood, NJ – Yidden are davening for 9-year-old Mordechai Pearl, who was run over at 8:40 yesterday morning and then dragged by a van operated by a driver who never saw the child.

Boruch Hashem, Sgt. Sean Van Leuven, a state parole officer, was driving behind the van in an unmarked police car at Route 9 and 8^th Street in the heart of Lakewood.

Van Leuven said he observed the van go over Mordechai. The officer then stopped the van using his lights and sirens.

Mordechai was dragged about 100 feet before the van was pulled over by Van Leuven.

“That parole officer saved the boy’s life,” a local officer told Matzav.com last night as Mordechai, who suffered two broken femurs, remained at Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune.

The name for Tehillim is Mordechai ben Yehudis Rus.

Hatzolah and Chaveirim utilized special air bags, blocks and crates to lift up the vehicle and extricate Mordechai.

“It was frightening to watch,” related a yungerman, who had emerged from the nearby Strulovics Shul (Khal Daas Kedoshim Butcatch) as the volunteers were working to lift the van. “We stood there and said Tehillim.”

Mordechai underwent surgery yesterday.

In an unrelated incident, Patrolman Nathan Reyes, who was the first responding officer to the scene, was involved in an accident when a driver turned in the path of his Chevrolet Tahoe and, to avoid the collision, he went off the road into bushes at the corner of 11th Street and Route 9.

All are asked to continue davening for Mordechai’s complete recovery.

{Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter/Photo: Flash 87 Images}