The woman, Marion Salmon Hedges, was listed in critical but stable condition at New York City's Harlem Hospital.
Hedges was walking with her 14-year-old son outside a Target store in East Harlem on Sunday when the cart fell on her. Her son wasn't injured.
Her father-in-law, Michael Hedges, says prosecutors should "throw the book" at the two boys.
The Daily News reports that Hedges volunteers at the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center. Center executive director Wanda Wooten says Hedges also is active in her church.
