Great storytelling, Smoke!
Like 9and7 says, we've all had that close call.
Here's one that happened very recently in Central Park. It was a glorious but crowded Sunday on pretty much the last carefree day before the shit started getting real here. My wife and I were out for a long walk and, tired but not wanting it to end, we stopped to rest on a bench adjacent to Turtle Pond. For those of you who have spent time in NYC that's the small lake by the Delecourt Theater and Great Lawn.
There's a pretty good incline in the path from there leading up to Cedar Hill. Looking in that direction, we saw a family of four - a tall handsome couple in their early 30's and two beautiful little girls, both on scooters. One girl was about 4, and she stuck close to mom and dad. The other girl was probably 6, and she was testing her limits. As her scooter began to accelerate down the hill toward us, she got further and further away from her parents, who were yelling for her to slow down. Then they started to run. The girl looked determined, even defiant at first, but you could see fear bloom on her face as her scooter began to oscillate back and forth. You could almost see her making the calculation, like you, Smoke, of whether she should jump off or keep trying to maintain control. Having seen one of my own boys in the same situation, it was clear to me that she had lost the struggle and was one more oscillation away from wiping out. I thought it was going to be pretty ugly. At the least, a lot of scrapes and bruises, and quite possibly much worse.
But before that happened, another young woman walking the other way swooped into the girl's path to whisk her off the scooter. It was a quick, athletic move like one trapeze artist catching another high in the air. Her boy friend grabbed the scooter before it could careen into anyone.
The girl started wailing, probably from a combination of shock, relief, pain and embarrassment. The next thing I expected to witness was her parents profusely thinking their daughter's savior, but nope, they did not, not one bit. As he picked up the crying girl, the dad said something like "That wasn't necessary. She was going to be fine." Mom gave the woman a withering look, the family moved quickly away, and that was the end of it.
My wife and I caught up with the other couple as we headed toward 5th Ave. We struck up a conversation and told the woman that we had witnessed the rescue, and that we had absolutely no doubt that she had done the right thing, and the parents should be thankful they were not headed to an urgent care clinic right now. This was not the same as the thanks she deserved, but the couple seemed to appreciate having impartial witnesses confirm that the girl had been saved from a whole lot of hurt.