A Cleveland 6-year-old demonstrated an extraordinary sense of bravery, saving his brother during a car fire, and sacrificing his own safety to protect his young sibling. The two boys were allegedly left unattended by their mother for less than five minutes before the car burst into flames, leaving questions surrounding what caused the accident in the first place.

6-year-old Dean Martin (Cleveland 19 News Screengrab)

On Sunday, Sept. 18, young Dean Martin and his 4-year-old brother Elijah were in the back seat of their mother’s car, when she hopped out to pick up her prescription at a local pharmacy in Lakewood around 5 p.m., according to Cleveland 19.

According to Iesha Newsom, she returned approximately three minutes after leaving her children to the devastating sight of her car being on fire and her kids trapped inside.

She said, “I came out, my car was on fire,” she recalled, saying a few bystanders helped get her smallest child out first. After he was safe, Elijah told them that his older brother Dean was still in the car.

“They went back for Dean,” Newsom said. “Right as they pulled Dean out of the car, it exploded.“

While details are scarce, what is said to have happened is Dean protected his little brother, by using his body to shield him from the fire.

The mom shared, “I would have never thought he would put his brother in a trunk and stand in front of him, so he won’t get burned. That’s very selfless for a 6-year-old.”

While Dean protected his brother, he actually put himself in harm’s way, receiving second and third-degree burns on his face, arms, and legs.

Dean’s bravery was not lost and even stood out to him as a valiant and heroic effort.

“I’m Spiderman mom. I saved my brother,” Newsom reported her son as saying.

“That was the first thing he said to me when we got here and he woke up from the medicine,” she continued.

According to a report put out by the National Fire Protection Association, which used data from the National Fire Incident Reporting Systems, between 2013 and 2017, an average of 117,400 cars caught on fire out of the 261,037,752 registered vehicles in the US in 2018 (excluding semi-trucks, motorcycles, and buses).

While the number seems jarring, it makes up .04 percent of vehicles catching fire — making the accident that Dean and Elijah were in even more perplexing.

Newsom says that she purchased the car only two months ago and that it was turned off when she went inside the store. She also said she took the keys from the vehicle, regretting leaving her children alone in the car unsupervised.

“The most important thing I learned from this all is not to leave my children in the car unattended not even for three minutes because in three minutes you never know what can happen,” she said.

There are currently no laws in the State of Ohio regarding leaving children in a car unattended.

Dean is now recovering in MetroHealth Cleveland Heights Medical Center.