Mom killed after shoving daughter out of harm's way on Mother's Day
INSIDE EDITION - 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.
Diane Aluska, 55, was leaving an early morning Mother’s Day Catholic 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 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.