A volunteer crossing guard and a pupil were knocked by a car on Tuesday near the front of Stanley Middle School in Lafayette.
According to the police, the road accident took place at around 3:00 in the afternoon.
The crossing guard was brought to the hospital while the child sustained slight injuries.
In an interview with ABC7’s Kate Larsen, the crossing guard’s family said their son died saving school kids from the car.
“He was getting pulled out by the paramedics and he was getting CPR,” Stella Champion, a 6th grader, told the same reporter. She said students flock the street during the accident. “I think there was a kid injured, but the crossing guard saved the kid.”
The killed guard was identified as Ashley Dias, 45, who used to attend the same school. He was volunteering at a school which lacks security personnel.
“It is unbelievable, just this morning we spoke to him, in the afternoon we spoke to him before he went at 2 o’clock for the crossing,” Fabio Dias, his father, said.
Ashley’s parents Fabio and Gloria live not far from the school. They shared that their son would spend his time volunteering at the school when he visits them.
“He was a great son,” said Fabio, “It’s devastating.”
The two went to John Muir Hospital to identify the killed guard’s body.
“The father of one of the kids came to me, a doctor at John Muir Hospital, and he said ‘if it wasn’t for your son, my daughter would be dead,'” her mother said. “He died a hero, but he’ll never come back to us, he’s gone.”
The driver involved in the accident, meanwhile, was identified as the Stanley student’s grandmother.
