OAKLAND Calif. (WSVN) — Surveillance cameras captured the horrifying moment a car struck two teenage girls and a young boy as they were crossing the street in California.
“I thought I was dead when I was on the floor,” said Jacquelyn Velasquez. “Everything was dark because I was trying so hard to keep my eyes open but I couldn’t.”
Velasquez was walking with her two cousins at around 9:30 p.m. on July 5th when a car slammed into them, sending the girls flying and pinning the young boy under the car.
Velasquez was left with broken ribs, a lacerated kidney, bruising all over and has already had heart surgery on her aorta artery. “They put a tube around it so it doesn’t expand and rupture so I don’t have any internal bleeding,” she said.
Her 18-year-old cousin broke her leg and injured her back. However, the youngest cousin, a boy — believed to be about 4 or 5 years old — is still at a children’s hospital with spinal injuries.
“Every time I lay down in the darkness, I just go back and rethink all the scenarios,” Velasquez said.
As for change to the road, Oakland City councilman Noel Gallo promised that it’s on the way. “Not only are we going to repave this street, we’re also going to demand a cross walk signal,” Gallo said.
The area where this happened has a long history of speeding problems. A local business owner — whose surveillance cameras captured the crash –thinks it could have been avoided.
“Oh, it was definitely a speed issue, there’s no way — if he was going 25, he should have been able to stop sooner than that,” said Mark Legaspi.
Now, Velasquez’s college career may need to be put on hold as she recovers. However, despite it all — she says she’s reflective and thankful to be alive.
“Death was so close but it’s not your time yet, so live life and you still have a long way to go,” she said.
It is unknown if any charges or arrests have been made in the incident.
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