A Northern California man died after being struck by a vehicle last week while helping a family of ducks cross a busy intersection as onlookers cheered him on, witnesses said.
The accident happened Thursday night in Rocklin, California, a city about 22 miles northeast of Sacramento. The Rocklin Police Department said the man had parked his vehicle and was “reportedly trying to help some ducklings that were in the intersection.”
A 17-year-old driver then struck man while he was in the roadway, police said. Emergency first responders arrived to assist but the man died at the scene, police said.
William Wimsatt, a 12-year-old boy who witnessed the man’s kind actions, told KCRA 3 the man was helping the ducks avoid traffic.
“He got out of the car and was shooing the ducks and everyone was clapping because he was being really nice,” Wimsatt told KCRA 3.
Police are investigating the incident and said the driver is cooperating with authorities but no arrests have been made. The intersection was closed until about 2 a.m. local time Friday after the crash.
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Car appeared to come out of nowhere, 12-year-old boy says
Wimsatt said he took pictures of the man as he helped the ducks in front of their car.
“He helped them get up over the curb because all the little baby duckies were having trouble and then he walked in front of our car,” Wimsatt told KCRA 3.
He said no cars moved through the intersection despite the green light and after the ducks safely crossed the road, onlookers in the area applauded.
“My mom rolled down the window and said, ‘Good job, good job,’ and I said, ‘Good job’ to him too and then right after that, the second after that,” Wimsatt said, describing moments before the car hit the man.
Wimsatt said the car appeared to come out of nowhere.
The New York Post reported that Wimsatt’s mother got out of her car to comfort the man’s children, who were sitting in his car, after the accident. A makeshift memorial of rubber ducks and flowers was set up at the intersection.
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