SAN ANTONIO – Some quick-acting neighbors may have helped save the life of a 12-year-old girl who was critically injured when she was ejected from a car late Sunday night.
San Antonio police said the driver of the car, Gino George Gomez, 18, was racing on a highway at the time of the crash.
Police found Gomez and the victim at the scene of the crash, near Interstate 37 and Southeast Military Drive.
Gomez had lost control of the car on the highway exit ramp and crashed into a wrought iron fence surrounding an apartment complex, police said.
The girl, who was a passenger in the car, was sent flying over the fence, through barbed wire, and into two vehicles in the parking lot.
Audrey Robles owns an SUV that the girl hit.
Robles on Monday morning carefully pointed out two large dents in her vehicle, while also recalling the previous night’s chaotic scene.
“I stayed on the phone with 911,” Robles said. “They had me on video with (the girl,) and she was breathing. And we moved her arm and straightened it out.”
Robles was one of several neighbors who tried to help the girl before first responders arrived.
Officers at the scene described the girl’s injuries as “life-threatening.” A later report said she was in critical but stable condition.
When the crash happened, shortly before 11 p.m., several people in the City Base Vista apartments heard the impact.
Robles said she could “feel the” vibration all the way inside her apartment.
Melany Munoz said she also rushed out of her home and initially focused on the black smoke coming from the crashed car.
Seconds later, she noticed the girl on the ground.
“She was just was curled up in a ball,” Munoz said. “It just made you realize how … everything changes in a second.”
Munoz and Robles returned to the scene of the crash Monday morning to get a look at the damage in the daylight.
The wrought iron fence and a chain link fence, in the immediate area of the impact, were left mangled.
Spray paint on the ground mapped out the areas where the car and girl landed.
Police said neither she nor Gomez were wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
Neighbors said Gomez did not appear to have suffered any serious injuries, but he left in the same ambulance with the girl.
A report from SAPD said he will face a charge of racing on a highway, causing serious bodily injury.
After what happened, neighbors said they plan to be extra cautious.
Now, my little girl (and I), we’re not taking any chances,” Munoz said. “Put your seatbelt on.”