Philadelphia students witness Times Square crash

A group of students from Philadelphia, who were in New York on a field trip, witnessed the Times Square crash Thursday.

The students are from the St. Cecilia's School in Northeast Philadelphia.

The seventy eight 8th graders, some of their parents and teachers arrived on three charter buses just after 9:15 p.m. Thursday.

They hugged with worried relatives and loved ones who couldn't wait for them to get back home.

Only hours earlier, some of them witnessed the horrific events in

Times Square.

"I saw this car flying, coming out of nowhere, and flying down Broadway. He wasn't stopping. He just flew up on the pavement. I just saw people flying in the air, like dolls. Immediately grabbed the children and started running back to the store," a parent Tamika Spaulding said.

"And I heard like this car make like a noise. And then my mom turned us around. We started running back to the Sephora makeup store," 8th grader India Eugene said.

"We were walking down. And we hear this car, and we hear a bang. We looked back, because we were going to take a picture. And there's gas everywhere. And the chaperone says come on kids, keep on going and going," 8th grader Matt George said.

Another 8th grader, Taylor Gallagher said, "I was just terrified for my life because I didn't know who else was involved in it. And I wasn't sure what else was going to happen. So, I was really scared."

Parents said they did their best to keep the kids safe and out of harm's way.

"You know keep them from crying. I've never seen anything like that before in my life," Spaulding said.

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