"You could see the mother kind of throw the daughter out of the way and sacrifice herself trying to save her own daughter," a witness said.
A New York mother was killed while pushing her daughter out of harm’s way during a Mother’s Day celebration that ended in tragedy.
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Diane Aluska, 55, was leaving an early morning Mother’s Day mass in Long Island with her 16-year-old daughter, Jenna, when an elderly driver lost control of her car, police said.
“She had thought she put it in drive, she left it in reverse, hit the gas, started speeding backwards, lost control, and jumped the sidewalk,” Suffolk County Detective Sgt. James Murphy said in a press conference.
Witnesses told WCBS that they watched Aluska shove her daughter out of the path of the car, but ended up pinned by the 2005 Toyota Corolla.
“You could see the mother kind of throw the daughter out of the way and sacrifice herself, trying to save her own daughter,” a witness said. “That was pretty heartfelt.”
Jenna and the driver, Ann Riolo, 80, were transported to a nearby hospital to be treated for non-life threatening injuries. Aluska was also taken to the hospital, where she died of her injuries.
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“I have no doubt she saved her daughter’s life,” Murphy said.
Police said Riolo is unlikely to face criminal charges.
