A mother in Long Island showed the depths of her love on Mother’s Day by giving up her life to save her daughter’s.
Diane Aluska, 55, of Lindenhurst, New York, was walking with her 16-year-old daughter, Jenna, when a Toyota Corolla barreled toward them in reverse.
The driver, 80-year-old Ann Riolo, had just backed out of a bakery parking lot. She hit the accelerator without realizing the car was still in reverse.
Instead of going forward, the car went backwards, jumped the curb and headed toward the two women, according to the New York Post.
Aluska managed to push Jenna nearly out of the car’s path, but the vehicle slammed the mother of three up against the wall of a fire station, according to the New York Daily News.
“Diane Aluska … put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder and attempted to push her out of the way,” Detective Sgt. James Murphy told the New York Post.
Aluska, Jenna and Riolo were all taken to a local hospital. Jenna and Riolo suffered only non-life-threatening injuries, but Aluska died.
“I have no doubt that she saved her daughter’s life,” Murphy told Newsday.
Riolo’s car was impounded for a safety check, according to NBC New York. However, police said the crash appeared to be accidental so no one has been charged.
Kenneth Aluska told the New York Post that his daughter was unaware of her mom’s passing as of Sunday evening.
“She doesn’t know,” he said. “Me and her brother have to tell her.”