Mom dies saving 16-year-old daughter from out-of-control car on Mother's Day
A mother and her teenage daughter were leaving a bakery with Mother's Day treats in hand on their way home from church Sunday morning in Lindenhurst, New York, when an out-of-control car jumped the sidewalk and crashed into the pair.
Diane Aluska, 55, was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. Her 16-year-old daughter, Jenna, was taken to the same hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Witnesses say Aluska pushed her daughter out of the way, possibly saving her life.
"At the last second you could see the mother kind of throw the daughter out of the way and sacrifice herself to try and save her own daughter, so that was pretty heartfelt," Joe Biggs, owner of Cieslak's Modern Bakery in Lindenhurst, told CBS New York.
The driver, identified as 80-year-old Ann Riolo, was also injured in the crash. She was trying to back out of a diagonal parking space in her 2005 Toyota Corolla when she struck the pair, police said.
"She had thought that she had put it in drive," Suffolk Police Detective Sergeant James Murphy told CBS New York. "She left it in reverse, hit the gas, started speeding backwards, lost control, and jumped the sidewalk."
Family, friends and community members are mourning the mother's tragic death.
"Our Town of Babylon family is heart broken as we mourn the death of Diane Aluska who was tragically killed this morning," Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer said in a statement Monday. "Diane was a valued member of our Town Clerk's Office where she served residents of the town with dedication, compassion and a big smile. We are keeping her daughter, Jenna and her family in our thoughts and prayers."
Aluska's neighbor, Jim Conrad, said he just saw the mother-daughter duo happily chatting on Friday.
"It stuns you," he said. "I can't believe she's passed."
No charges are expected in the deadly crash, CBS New York reports. But the investigation is still underway, police said, and the Corolla has been impounded for safety checks.
