For the second time this year, a Zoey 101 star has been involved in a vehicular accident involving a child.
In February Jamie Lynn Spears' daughter Maddie was rushed to the hospital after her ATV tipped over. Now comes the news that former child actor Matthew Underwood, who played Logan on the Nickelodeon show, has played a rather heroic role in the rescue of an infant boy following a car crash.
Underwood told Florida news outlet WPTV that, while driving down Port St. Lucie Boulevard in Port Lucie, Florida on Thursday night, he witnessed another car crash into a tree after slowly crossing six lanes of traffic.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
When he stopped to help, he noted that the adult passengers appeared to be unconscious.
“I thought maybe they were having a heart attack," Underwood told WPTV of the man and woman, later identified as Jessica Ruth Hand and John Jacob Rodriguez. “As far as I was concerned, they looked dead."
A 4-month-old baby boy was sitting in a car seat, which Underwood said was unsecured, in the backseat.
“I heard a baby cry and that’s when I really stopped caring about anything that was going on there and I immediately ran around the other side of the car and looked for the baby," he added.
The 26-year-old actor removed the baby from the vehicle. He claimed that he also removed a needle from Rodriguez's arm.
TMZ, which has video footage shot by Underwood at the scene, reports that the actor's brother called 911. Underwood told WPTV that police performed CPR on the baby's parents.
A police report obtained by People confirmed the incident, and noted that Hand and Rodriguez both received medical treatment before being arrested. Hand, who was behind the wheel, allegedly confessed to trying heroin that night and will face charges of child neglect and possession of drug paraphernalia. Rodriguez, who was found to be in possession of the controlled substance Alprazolam and a broken pipe, was arrested for child neglect, possession of a controlled substance without prescription, possession of drug paraphernalia, and violation of his probation warrant.
Underwood, meanwhile, is being praised as a hero on social media.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
"I can't believe Logan Reese really did that...WHAT A GUY," tweeted one impressed fan.
"Matthew Underwood from Zoey 101 just saved a baby from a car crash," tweeted another. "Always knew he was a true man."
A rep for the actor has not yet responded to our request for comment.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT