- Kameron Hunter, nine, ran into the van’s path before bringing it to a standstill
A ‘superhero’ nine-year-old who stopped his neighbours’ three tonne van from rolling down the street using just his bare hands has admitted he was ‘worried it was going to run me over’.
Startling Ring doorbell footage from earlier this year shows Kameron Hunter playing football outside his home in Nelson, Lancashire, when a neighbour’s Vauxhall Vivaro begins slowly rolling down the street.
The schoolboy quickly abandons his ball and selflessly runs in front of the tool-packed van in an attempt to stop it on its front grille.
A family friend also rushes from the house to alert the owner while Kameron – who weighs five stone – is dangerously pushed backward by the vehicle for ten seconds.
The brave lad miraculously manages to stop the runaway van and holds it in position ‘like a superhero’ so it didn’t smash into parked cars or a lamp post 15ft away.
Now, he has admitted his ‘hands were shaking’ in fear but he still decided selflessly jump into action after thinking how devastated his neighbours would be.
Kameron, from Nelson, Lancashire, said: ‘I thought ‘oh my god, it’s going to crash and set fire’.
‘I was worried and my hands were shaking so I sprinted to the van and put my life in danger.
Kameron Hunter, nine, (pictured) single-handedly saved his neighbour’s brand-new van from rolling down a hill
This is the moment Kameron abandons his ball and selflessly runs in front of the tool-packed van
The young boy – who weighs only five stone – is then pushed back dangerously by the vehicle for ten seconds
‘I was thinking about how upset the owners would be. People say I was fearless but I was quite scared. I’m surprised I could do it.
‘I didn’t think I was going to be able to stop the van. I just thought I would slow it down a bit.
‘When the van was pushing me I was worried it was going to run me over.
‘It feels amazing that people say I’m a superhero.’
His mother Lyndsay Hunter was upstairs during the dramatic incident and admitted she was angry at her heroic son at first – telling him he could have been run over and killed.
But after watching the footage, shot on July 21, the teaching assistant, 30, has been baffled by his ‘serious strength’ and is proud that he considered his neighbour before himself.
Van owners Matt Sharples and Helen Reavley, both 37, who reportedly only bought it a week earlier, were so thankful that he bought the aspiring footballer a £50 gaming voucher and a superhero cape.
He is now known as ‘the superhero’ on the street and Lyndsay’s TikTok video of the incident has led thousands online to praise him for ‘saving the day’.
Miraculously, the brave lad managed to stop the runaway van and held it in position
Kameron pictured with his mother Lyndsay Hunter, 30, who is a teaching assistant
Kameron with van owner Matt Sharples and neighbour Caitlin Greenwood in front of the van
Kameron was playing football in front of his home when he spotted the vehicle inching out of its parking space and stopped it with his bare hands
Lyndsay was stunned by her son’s ‘serious strength’ when she watched the video back shortly after his street heroics.
She said: ‘I didn’t realise at the time just how strong he is. He’s got some serious strength on him.
‘I’d sent my friend to get him because tea was ready then the next thing I know he comes in and tells me he’s saved my neighbour’s van from rolling.
‘My friend ran to go and get the neighbour and within 20 seconds he was out and thanking Kameron.
‘I told Kameron not to touch the van and that he could have been run over and died but he said that if it had crashed then [the owner] wouldn’t have been able to go to work.
‘I just thought ‘what a lovely boy you are’. He’s got such a big heart and he makes me really proud.
The child said he leapt into action because his neighbour had just bought the van for work and he didn’t want him to be ‘upset’
‘I didn’t really know if I would be able to stop it,’ Kameron said about the van
Kameron poses in front of the van in a superhero outfit after stopping the vehicle rolling down a hill
‘When I watched the video back he didn’t think about his football and he didn’t think about himself.
‘If he didn’t stop it, it would have started rolling faster. The van owners even bought him a cape and they call him a superhero.
‘It’s crazy to watch it back. The van’s heavy itself but it was full of tools too.’
It’s believed the work van suffered a brake fault causing it to roll down the street while Matt and Helen, who often chat to Kameron, were still inside their house.
Helen said: ‘We ran out and saw Kameron holding the van so we told him to get off it because we were worried for him.
‘We couldn’t believe how he’d done it. It would have squashed me.
‘We’re so grateful because if he hadn’t done that it would have carried on down the street, through a fence and probably into someone’s car. We wouldn’t have had a van to work in.’