Trey Harrison’s injuries were critical.
On the evening of March 30, his mother’s Kia Optima flew across the Route 273 median in Christiana, hitting a New Castle County police vehicle that was traveling in the opposite direction. The impact caused the Kia to split in half.
Trey, 10, was thrown from the car and landed in the road. His mother, 37-year-old Amanda Harrison, was also seriously hurt, as were Trey’s 13- and 15-year-old siblings.
Nearby, county police officer Drew Johnson was trapped in his patrol car, which was also significantly damaged. As it began to fill with smoke, a second county officer who was close to the scene arrived at the crash site.
On Aug. 21, 2025, after nearly five months at Nemours Children’s Hospital following a March 30, 2025, car crash in which he was critically injured, 10-year-old Trey Harrison was reunited with the New Castle County police officers and other first responders who saved his life that night.
That officer, Michael Merrill, was able to quickly get Johnson out of the patrol car. Then, acting on instinct, the two officers turned their attention to Trey.
He was bleeding profusely and needed a tourniquet, which Johnson ran back to his patrol car to retrieve. He had to break a window to get to the first aid kit but made it back to the boy.
Despite the officers’ speedy actions and the quick arrival of New Castle County Paramedics and Delaware State Police’s medical helicopter, Johnson and Merrill weren’t sure that Trey would survive.
Yet on Aug. 21, nearly five months after the wreck, the boy was reunited with the two officers and many other first responders who helped save his life that day. He’s set to be released from Nemours Children’s Hospital next week.
Trey Harrison, who was injured in a crash on March 30, 2025, will get to go home next week after spending several months and undergoing dozens of surgeries at the Nemours Children’s Hospital.
Johnson and Merrill know Trey’s life will be forever altered by that evening. Theirs might be too. But they’re thankful Trey is alive, and that their actions made a difference.
“That’s the best part about doing this job – when you have somebody you help that has a positive outcome such as this one,” Johnson said. “Oftentimes, you don’t get that positive outcome or we don’t know what happens, but this is one the few times and it makes it worth it.”
A chaotic scene
Merrill had been completing paperwork near the crash scene when he heard the screeching of tires and a “loud impact,” then saw debris flying through the air.
He rushed toward the sound, where he saw Johnson’s patrol car. It was “almost unrecognizable,” he said, while Amanda’s Kia “was split into two.”
Johnson radioed that he was trapped and Merrill ran over. Once freed, the two deemed Trey “the top priority patient.”
In addition to losing significant blood, Trey’s leg was severely damaged. Merrill said on Aug. 21 that he was shocked doctors didn’t need to amputate.
Trey Harrison, who was injured in a crash on March 30, 2025, will get to go home next week after spending several months and undergoing dozens of surgeries at the Nemours Children’s Hospital.
After what “seemed like an hour,” Johnson said – though was in fact mere minutes – other first responders arrived. Paramedics jumped into action, taking over Trey’s treatment and turning their attention to his mother and siblings.
They were then rushed to various hospitals, where all, except for Trey, were later released. Amanda said on Aug. 21 that the experience was made even more difficult by the fact that her injuries initially prevented her from visiting Trey.
“I haven’t really opened up since the accident,” she said, wiping away tears. “But he’s going home next Thursday, finally. Five months – after five months.”
She said she is incredibly proud of her son.
Though he underwent 37 surgeries since that March evening, he even managed to encourage and befriend other hospital patients. That’s a testament to his character and resilience, she said.
The Nemours Children’s Hospital held a press conference on Aug. 21, 2025, celebrating Trey Harrison’s recovery from a car accident that he was in earlier this year.
She also credited the work of the first responders and the dozens of Nemours doctors, nurses, social workers and others who have cared for Trey over the last several months.
“It’s very amazing for how far he has come because I wouldn’t have thought he would have gotten this far this soon, just because of how bad it was,” Amanda said. “But he’s doing amazing. I don’t even gotta worry about him.”
Got a story tip or idea? Send to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com. For all things breaking news, follow her on X at @izzihughes_
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware first responders reunite with young crash victim they saved
