Heroic effort not enough to save pedestrian pinned under SUV
Will Canelos was on his way to deliver a pizza Monday night when he heard a crash.
Canelos ran to the intersection of Roosevelt Road and Main Street in Lombard, where a sport utility vehicle had rolled over on the parkway.
Two pedestrians - a man and a woman - were trapped under the vehicle.
Canelos and "probably six other guys" lifted the Hyundai Santa Fe to first free the critically injured woman, then the man whose legs were pinned.
"We rolled it in one direction to help get the woman out and then did the same thing on the other side of the vehicle to get the man out," the 28-year-old Lombard sheet-metal worker said.
Pascuala Hernandez-Gutierrez, 49, of the 1300 block of Finley Road in Lombard, died at 8:51 p.m. Monday at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, the DuPage County coroner's office said. The male pedestrian - described by police as "an older gentleman" - and the 18-year-old SUV driver also were taken to Good Samaritan, but no information was available about their conditions.
The accident occurred about 8:15 p.m. Monday, when a Jewel semitrailer truck and the SUV collided in the intersection, authorities said. The SUV rolled over and landed on the sidewalk on the south side of Roosevelt, just east of Main, police said. The semi had been eastbound on Roosevelt and the SUV was northbound on Main, according to the preliminary investigation, Lombard Deputy Chief Dane Cuny said.
"We're aware of the accident and we are cooperating with the authorities and the investigation," said Karen May, Jewel-Osco communications manager.
The driver of the SUV had to be extricated from the vehicle, police said. The truck driver wasn't injured.
Meanwhile, authorities are praising Canelos and the other bystanders for their quick actions during the moments before rescue crews arrived.
"I just feel like I did what anybody in that situation would do," said Canelos, who went back to work after helping at the scene.
"I don't feel like a hero," he said. "I just feel like I did the right thing."
The crash investigation could take weeks, officials said. Anyone with information should contact the Lombard police at (630) 873-4400.
ABC Channel 7 contributed to this report
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