Aaron Gutierrez, a seriously injured father of three is being hailed as a hero after he pushed his pregnant wife from the path of a speeding truck.
Aaron Gutierrez, of Fresno, suffered a broken leg and shoulder when he was struck by the fast-moving vehicle Friday night, ABC30 in Fresno reported. Gutierrez’s mother was also struck, and she remained in the intensive care unit Wednesday with a broken back and bleeding on the brain.
Gutierrez and his wife told ABC30 that they were returning from a pizza place, where they celebrated their son’s sixth birthday.
“It was one of the best nights,” Gutierrez told the news station. “And then followed by, as a father, the worst fear.”
As the family members walked home from their bus stop, a speeding Toyota Tacoma veered toward them.
“I pushed her,” Gutierrez said about his wife. “I think that’s why she got the concussion, because I just pushed her out of the way as fast as I could.”
Gutierrez’s wife was knocked unconscious, but their three children were unharmed in the accident, including the couple’s 1-year-old son, who was in his father’s arms.
A GoFundMe page has been established to help pay Gutierrez’s medical bills. According to the fundraising page, Gutierrez was also recently diagnosed with cancer and will begin chemotherapy in the next couple of months.
Police officials said that the Tacoma’s driver ran a red light before plowing into the Gutierrez family.
“They weren’t doing anything wrong. They weren’t in the roadway,” Fresno police Lt. Mark Hudson said. “He took the actions that obviously probably saved his wife’s life by pushing her out of the way.”
“This could be a different story right now,” Gutierrez told ABC30. “He wasn’t paying attention and my kids could’ve been dead right now. It’s hard to think about that.”
It was not immediately clear what charges the driver of the truck faces in the crash.
