9-year-old Madisyn Harris calls 911 after wreck, saves mother, brother

A 9-year-old Henry County girl is being praised as a hero after her quick thinking during an auto accident that critically injured her mother.

Madisyn Harris was in the back seat with her brother, Chandler, 1, when her mother drove their SUV off of Highway 19/41 and into a guardrail.

The truck flipped several times, ejecting the girl's mother, Courtney Miner, 34. Madisyn and her brother were still inside the damaged SUV.

The 9-year-old was able to grab a cellphone and then check on her brother, who was still strapped in his car seat.

"Just reached over like that. So he was there, so she didn't try to take him out, but she got through the window and called 911," Madisyn's grandmother, Donna Thomas, said.

Channel 2's Tony Thomas obtained the 911 recording of the incident from Clayton and Henry County authorities.

The remains of Miner's car

On it, one can hear how scared the girl was as she made the call.

Madisyn: "My baby brother's crying and I am hurt."

Operator: "OK, ma'am. I can't understand anything that's going on."

Madisyn: "OK, I'm hurt and I need help."

"I truly think she helped save her momma's life," Thomas said.

Courtney Miner

Miner remains in the Intensive Care Unit at Atlanta Medical Center in Northeast Atlanta. Neither of her two children was seriously hurt.

"It's just simply amazing, because I know even now at my age I'm not good with emergencies and I'm not sure I'd be able to think what to do," Thomas said.

"She's a brave little girl and she did what she was supposed to do," grandfather Jon Thomas said.

The family said it will likely be several weeks before Miner is able to leave the hospital.