A mother and her two young children were injured when a concrete-mixing truck hit them at a busy Queens intersection near a school Wednesday, police and fire officials said.
A call about the accident near Junction Boulevard and 55th Avenue in Elmhurst came in shortly after 2:30 p.m., close to dismissal time for nearby elementary school PS 13. Police said the family had the right of way as they crossed Junction Boulevard.
The 5-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy were taken to the hospital with injuries that were believed to be minor, police said. Their 36-year-old mother was taken to the hospital with a severe leg injury but is in stable condition.
A woman who witnessed the bloody aftermath of the crash told NBC 4 New York in Spanish she rushed to help.
"The baby girl was laying about a meter away from her, and she didn't move," the woman, Miriam, said of the mother who was hit. "I was telling the mom to be calm, that help was on the way."
The truck remained at the scene and the driver was being questioned.
A person who answered the phone at the concrete truck company declined comment.
One witness who lives in the area told NBC 4 New York he's never seen a crossing guard at the busy intersection, which families traverse daily to bring their children to and from school.
"I think there's one crossing guard for that entire school up there, and we have a day care right up the street here," said Allen Petre. "There's only one guard, and I think they work halfway up the street in the middle of the block because there's no light up there."
State Senator Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) said in a statement that he's been calling on the DOT to add traffic cameras and consider other measures to improve traffic safety in the area.
