Shopper Clings to Life After Cart Dropped on Her Head
Community center 'devastated' by volunteer's tragedy
The wealthy Manhattan real-estate agent who was hit by a shopping cart that police say was dropped four stories by two 12-year-olds as she was buying Halloween candy for underprivileged children will "in the best of cases" be in rehabilitation for months, her husband told the New York Post.
Marion Salmon Hedges has been in a medically-induced coma after she was struck in the head by the falling cart on Sunday while walking outside a Target store with her 13-year-old son in East Harlem, the paper reported.
Her husband, Michael Hedges, told the Post on Tuesday that his family "is going through a very difficult time."
"It's still too early to tell with neurological issues," he told the newspaper. "Every year on Halloween, 1,000 kids come to our block from less-privileged neighborhoods and we spend $500 to $600 on candy for them and that's what she was doing -- buying candy for those kids to do something nice for the community."
Gaurav Patel, a doctor who witnessed the incident, performed CPR on Hedges, who was later transported to Harlem Hospital where she remains.
"We heard a little boy just screaming," Patel's wife, Susan Mahoney, told the newspaper. "Guarav said she was [in cardiac arrest] for about a minute. He did chest compressions, and she became responsive."
The two young suspects were telling jokes and laughing with each other after they were taken into custody, police sources told the newspaper.
"They were just doing it for fun," one law enforcement source said of the alleged crime.
The suspects were reportedly charged in Family Court with assault as juveniles.
The victim's father-in-law, Michael Hedges, said prosecutors should "throw the book" at the two boys.
Hedges, a 47-year-old mother of two, works for Prudential Douglas Elliman. The New York Daily News reports that she is a volunteer at the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center and also very active in her church.
Dottie Herman, president and CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman, said in a statement that "Our thoughts and prayers are with Marion and her family as we wish her a full and speedy recovery."
Click here for more on this story from the New York Post.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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