Heart-stopping video captured the moment a mother and her two young children were hit by an 18-wheeler while heading to school in New Jersey, trapping one of them beneath the rig.
The horror unfolded Wednesday around 8:45 a.m. when the truck stopped just before an intersection near Ocean and Wilson avenues in Jersey City, as the woman and her son and daughter stepped off the sidewalk and started crossing the street on their way to school, according to footage and local reports.
The trio then walked right in front of the trailer, which had slowed before the crossing — just to keep moving, running into them.
Witnesses said blood-curdling screams echoed after the collision, with one of the kids trapped in the truck’s tire. A crossing guard was actively ushering pedestrians through the intersection at the time.
“What I heard was the scream of the crossing guard. That was the kind of scream that makes you stand up,” one witness told CBS New York.
“The mother stands up with blood in the hair, and she had the little girl screaming, but the boy was stuck in the tire.”
Another witness said the truck stopped immediately after the driver realized what had happened.
The three unidentified victims were rushed to a nearby hospital, while the truck driver remained at the scene, the outlet reported.
Their current conditions remain unknown.
“This is a heartbreaking tragedy and my thoughts are with the family and everyone impacted by this incident,” Mayor James Solomon said in a statement.
“As a father, I am heartbroken.”
The incident remains under investigation.