Good Samaritan saves toddler wondering alone in intersection from being hit by oncoming car

A toddler in Arizona was saved at the last moment by a bystander after running into speeding traffic.

Dashcam footage obtained by Phoenix broadcaster KTVK shows the moment that the unnamed child was nearly struck by a passing SUV, before an unknown woman ran into the road to grab him.

The woman who owned the dashcam can be heard screaming at the top of her lungs and honking her horn to try and get the child's attention.

"When you look at the video, I’m completely hysterical because I feel hopeless," the woman told KTVK. "I felt like I was mentally preparing myself to watch a child be crushed."

"I’m feeling overwhelmed, but just happy that the kind woman was willing to sacrifice her life to go into the road and grab him."

She added that her seven-year-old son was in her back seat, meaning that she didn't want to use her own car to block the traffic for fear of risking his life.

KTVK did not name the child or his parents, but quoted the child's father as saying that he had been away at the time.

His wife, he said, had been at home watching the children but had briefly left the house, and had forgotten to lock the door – possibly due to her ongoing postpartum depression.

He added that the first he knew of his children leaving the house was when he got an alert from his Ring video doorbell showing a woman carrying his son to the door.

The local sheriff's office said that it is investigating the incident and is likely to charge the woman with child endangerment.