Calif. Woman Saves Son as Big Rig Runs Her Over
A mother who pushed her 2-year-old son out of the way of a big rig was injured Thursday morning when she was struck and run over by the truck in downtown Fresno.
Witnesses said the woman -- Alicia Dougherty, 30, of Fresno -- may have saved her son's life while suffering injuries, including scrapes and bruises. The child, whose name was not released, also suffered a cut on his right foot, police said.
"I told her God was with them," said Stephanie Gonzalez, who witnessed the collision and stopped her car to run to the aid of the victims.
"I felt really bad for her -- she was just crying for her baby. She said the truck almost got him and she saved him."
An ambulance rushed the victims to Community Regional Medical Center. Police and witnesses said the woman had the right of way as she crossed southbound E Street at Fresno Street just before 9 a.m. and the truck, which was southbound on E, turned right to Fresno Street and struck the woman in the crosswalk. Fresno police officer Joe Ploharz said it was likely that the truck driver did not see the woman because the height of the truck obscured his vision.
Several people, including Gonzalez, said the truck driver was on a cellular phone as he made the turn, but Ploharz said he had not heard that from the witnesses that he had interviewed.
The driver of the truck, Tejpal Sandhu, 35, of Newark, was cited for failing to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk, police said.
After the truck struck the woman, the driver backed up, inadvertently rolling a front wheel of the rig back over the woman, who had tire marks on her leg as she and the child lay crying in the street.
"I'm a mom and for a mom to save her baby like that takes a lot of heart," Gonzalez said. "The tire was already running over her and her baby and she just grabbed him and slid him over."
Copyright 2012 - The Fresno Bee, Calif.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
