Caught On Video: the moment woman is hit by shopping cart dropped 4 floors by two 12-year-old boys

A New York philanthropist who was hit by a shopping cart tossed from the 4th floor of a shopping center by two 12-year-old boys says she feels sorry for them.

On Oct. 30, 2011, Marion Salmon Hedges, a 47-year-old mother-of-two, was with her 13-year-old son at the East Harlem mall where she went to buy Halloween candy for underprivileged youths. Four floors above her, on an unguarded walkway, 3 boys wrestled with a Target shopping cart.

A surveillance video, released this week by the NY Post, shows what happened next.

In the video, the older boy, who looked to be about 14, is seen repeatedly trying to wrestle the shopping cart away from two younger boys. Finally, the older boy gives up and flees the scene.

The two younger boys then lift the heavy cart over the railing. They didn’t stick around to watch as the cart hurtled four floors to the ground. The cart crashed down on Hedges’ head at about 5:40 p.m. that Sunday. The two thugs would later tell a judge they didn’t realize Hedges was in the path of the shopping cart as it fell.

Hedges was hospitalized in critical condition on Oct. 30, 2011. Her prognosis was “awful” according to her husband who visited her in the ICU in the weeks following the incident. At the time, he told reporters, Hedges had “months” of physical rehab ahead of her.

Hedges has recovered from her horrific injuries which left her blind in one eye and permanent nerve damage that affects her walking.

Despite her life-threatening ordeal, Hedges, who works as a real estate agent, holds no animosity toward her attackers. “I haven’t heard from them, but I wish them well,” she told reporters outside her NY townhouse this week. “I feel sorry for them,” she said.

The two boys who injured Hedges pleaded guilty. One of the boys, who turned 13, was sent to a group home. The other boy was placed in a foster home.

Hedges’ father is angry that the boys punishment wasn’t more severe. “My view is that what have these young thugs learned from this experience?,” said Marc Salmon. “That they can be thugs and get away with this, and that’s a sad commentary,” he added.