A priest was on the scene Wednesday morning following a crash that took the lives of a child and a woman just steps away from a church in east Baltimore.

Father Evan Ponton was about to deliver Mass at the Shrine of the Little Flower Church on Belair Road around 7:30 a.m. But what he saw near the church lawn right before was unthinkable.

“The car was crushed. He was trapped in his car seat and I was able to get the door open to pull him free from his car seat,” Ponton said “He did appear injured, so I put him on a patch of grass in front of the church.”

I LISTEN: WBAL’s Phil Yacuboski speaks with Father Evan Ponton