The woman was at Mount Sinai Hospital where she was being treated for multiple broken bones and internal injuries.
The pickup was parked in the alley of the 4400-block of South St Louis. Its owner, a scrapper who lives nearby, was a short distance from the truck apparently about to pick up some metal. His 13-year-old son was in the truck, and police say he accidentally hit the gear shift throwing the pick up into drive. The boy immediately tried to stop the truck but punched down on the accelerator instead of the brake. The vehicle lurched forward striking a woman who just happened, at that very moment, to be walking by.
She was pinned beneath the truck as it shot across the street and wound up crushing a brick fence before coming to rest in a backyard. The woman sustained multiple broken bones. Neighbors heard a boom. Roger Cadena came running.
"She was conscious, in shock, and I just wanted to assure her the ambulance was on its way," said Roger Cadena, neighbor.
Witnesses say the young boy seemed traumatized. He was not physically hurt. The pickup shot forward with such force that it sheared off a corner of a garage that was the victim's only protection, and then fully flattened a brick fence.
The owner of the truck, the metal scrapper, declined to talk to ABC7. He has been cited by police for leaving the vehicle unattended and driving on suspended license.
