Minutes after a woman allegedly stabbed her three young children in Greater Grand Crossing on Wednesday evening, the oldest child tried to put his injured arm on her to console her.
"Mama, don’t cry, it's gonna be all right," the 5-year-old boy said.
That heart-wrenching moment between the boy and his sobbing mother stuck with tow truck driver DeVaughen Stringfellow, who went from driving through the area to help fix something for a friend to rushing the woman and three children — all covered in blood — to St. Bernard Hospital.
"This is what's messing me up because I can’t get this out my head," Stringfellow, 50, said of the boy trying to comfort the woman.
The children, a 1-year-old girl and two boys, ages 3 and 5, were stabbed in their wrists with a sharp object in the 7100 block of South Harvard Avenue around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, Chicago police said.
A security guard and a nurse at the hospital told officers that the woman said she "did it because she had no help," according to police reports.
The woman was taken into custody, and charges were pending as of Thursday morning.
Stringfellow happened to be in the area when he noticed a baby in the street next to a car tire with nothing on but a bloodied diaper.
He then saw the woman holding a toddler in her arms before spotting the oldest child.
Stringfellow said he "blanked out" when he saw the children and acted quickly to try and get them immediate help. He didn't find out until later that their mom was considered a suspect.
Stringfellow initially thought the woman and children had been shot, so he positioned his tow truck to shield them from more gunfire while he helped them to safety.
"It was a whole different thing from what I thought," Stringfellow said.
The 23-year-old woman screamed at Stringfellow to "Get my babies to the hospital," he recalled.
He called 911 but ultimately decided to drive them to the hospital himself.
Stringfellow said his tow truck is small, so he placed one child on the floor of his truck and laid the oldest child across the woman and 1-year-old girl to fit them all inside.
After getting to St. Bernard, he rushed one of the children — who was on the verge of passing out — inside, he said.
Stringfellow said he remembers the woman saying that she was struggling and the children all have different fathers.
The children were transferred to Comer Children's Hospital where they were all in serious condition, police said.
Stringfellow said he planned to visit the children.
"I don’t know man, it's just crazy," he said.
