Last Friday in Italjai, Brazil, a little dog named Mel did what no dog should ever do — he escaped through a gate at his home and bolted into a busy street. The worst happened, and Mel was struck by a car. There he was, injured, unable to move, in the middle of the street, the car who had hit him having run off. He was surrounded by speeding cars. It could have ended horribly, but an 11-year-old boy named Jean Fernandes wasn’t going to let that happen. Not to his dog.

He ran into the street to save Mel. A photographer, Rafaela Martins, captured the remarkable incident.

“He managed to escape through the gate and I ran after him. By the time I saw him hit he was in the middle of the street. I took him in my arms and brought him home,” Jean told Guarda-Sol, according to Dog Heirs.

After Brazil’s News Agency of Animal Rights posted the story to its Facebook page, Mel and Jean became local celebrities, according to Huffington Post. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer kid. His mother, teacher Rubia Liliana Rose, told Guarda-Sol that her son rescues dog when he finds them abandoned, and that all three of her children have respect for animals. The family adopted Mel when he was a puppy, with Jean as his favorite.

Mel’s leg is hurt, and the dog limps, but he active and seems happy. He’s receiving care from vets at the local animal control shelter.

“We like to play ball together,” Jean said. “But he’s not playing now because he’s still in pain.”

Comments are pouring in over the photos, praising Jean’s action.

“This little boy is already larger than many men,” wrote one commenter.

Via Dog Heirs