WESTMINSTER, Colo. — A 4-year-old boy was hit by a car while on his way to school in Westminster on Tuesday morning.
The Westminster Police Department said the child was walking in a crosswalk outside Skyline Vista Elementary at West 74th Avenue and Zuni Street with an adult and other family members when he was hit by a minivan.
The female driver stayed at the scene, according to police.
“I think she just didn’t see them,” said Xochito Valles, who was dropping off her children when the accident happened.
“It all happened right here,” Aldo Ocegueda said pointing to the intersection.
Ocegueda was also taking his son to school when he saw the child pinned under the car.
“He was scared. He was crying. He was in pain,” he said.
Police said the boy was trapped under the vehicle and dragged for a short distance before the driver came to a stop.
“I just knew I had to help,” Ocegueda said.
He went to get a car jack from his garage nearby.
“We just jacked the car up. My brother jacked it up and I helped pull the little boy out,” Ocegueda said.
Skyline Vista principal Zack White said many people came together to help the injured child.
“If it wasn’t for the two people who had the jack, I mean they were the heroes of the day,” White said.
While the boy was doing OK according to the school, other parents said this will continue to happen if drivers don’t start paying attention in school zones.
“There’s signs everywhere, school zone. You should obey the law, no matter what,” Valles said.
Dozens of people commenting on social media said they see cars daily speeding through school zones, failing to yield at crosswalks and not paying attention to the road.
“There are students, there are parents, there are teachers. You’re going to wind up hitting somebody and in this case it was a preschooler and it’s sad,” Valles said.
“It is the ultimate fear. It’s still a fear to be honest,” Zack White said.
White went to the hospital to visit the 4-year-old after the accident. The boy was recovering well, according to friends.
Police cited the driver of the minivan for careless driving resulting in injury and failure to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk.
The principal said there are crossing guards at the school’s intersections but Wednesday morning there was not one where the boy was hit.