Utah Child 'Saved' By Piggyback Ride After Getting Hit In Crosswalk

A five-year-old boy and his big sister are lucky to be alive after an SUV slammed into them in a crosswalk in Salt Lake City, reported Fox 13 Now. The family says that the big sister saved the boys life by offering him a piggyback ride just moments before the incident.

The 14-year-old girl was carrying her brother across the street on Tuesday morning. A large sign was near them that read: “PEDESTRIAN CROSSING… SLOW DOWN, USE CAUTION.”

Justin Strange, a bicyclist in the area, said, “I noticed this morning too, they put up this electric sign over here.”

There is now a newly painted crosswalk and traffic barricades for extra safety. Those safety precautions weren’t there when the two children were hit.

According to strange, crews paved over that road about a month ago, but they never repainted the crosswalk. Strange said, “That’s pretty incompetent to take out a crosswalk on a really busy street. That’s not even enough as it is, but to take that out, and if those kids didn’t get hit, then this probably would have never been put in.”

According to family members, the two children were walking back to the house to grab a jacket at the boy forgot before school. The family member said that the children looked both ways before crossing the street. The SUV came up fast and hit the two children in the middle of the road.

Both of the children were injured, and due to the impact neither of them remember the accident or the following moments.

Both children are now at home and recovering