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12-year-old boy died when his family's car was slammed into by a pickup truck after his mother pulled over to help a dog in the middle of the freeway.

The family was driving on Highway 85 Sunday night when 41-year-old Catherine Silveira pulled over after noticing the dog. Her husband got out of the minivan to try to get the animal out of danger, but their car was partially blocking a lane of traffic

A 23-year-old San Jose man in a 1995 Chevy S-10 pickup apparently didn't see that the minivan was partially blocking the lane, Bishop said, and hit the back of the minivan at about 60 mph, sending it spinning into an embankment.

The rear seat passengers got the worst of it.

The dog, though injured, was eventually pulled safely to the side of the highway. Bishop said motorists should always call law enforcement to deal with animals or objects blocking the roadway.

His 12-year-old stepson was killed. His two smaller children were hurt and remain hospitalized.

Silveira is unemployed, has no health insurance and no way to pay for the boy's funeral Saturday. His wife Catherine's temporary job ended Wednesday.

He tells the San Jose Mercury News, "I feel so stupid because I stopped to help that dog."

San Jose
LA Daily

 

[Willco]

That sucks. I hope people help 'em out with medical bills.

 

[nitewulf]

that really sucks. thats just sad.

 

[Malakhov]

 

[Wolfy]

THAT GUY NEEDS A MEDIC!

MEDIC!

 

[Invader Zim]

Good thing they saved the dog. The kid was prolly an illegal anyways.

 

[teh_pwn]

Wow, that's cold.

 

[miyuru]

Damn, out of all people, it happened to them. Donations people, donations!

 

[Docpan]

Oh my gosh, that is the most depressing thing I've read in a while.

 

[SKluck]

Sucks for the kid. Stupid parents.

 

[Archaix]

You've got to be incredibly stupid to do this on the freeway, let alone at night. Even if your car is all the way off the road, somebody is in the middle of the lane in an area that likely has no lights.

 

[ManDudeChild]

That couldn't be anymore saddening

I certainly don't think it was a mistake to try and help the poor animal (too bad there aren't more kind people in the world), but it was a bad judgement call to do it in the way they appeared to.