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6-year-old helps save family after van crash
Boy ran for help when mom was ejected in rollover accident

By Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News
October 22, 2002

Six-year-old Joe Lopez is a shy boy who rarely raises his voice.

But when he saw his mother lying on the side of a road, battered and bloody after a car accident, he shouted an order: "Don't die."

And then he did something even more remarkable. On a remote road in the middle of Weld County, the tearful boy jogged for 10 minutes in search of of help, finally flagging down a passerby.

Promethia Lopez said she and Joe's little brother, 4-year-old Giovanni, survived the crash because of her son's bravery.

"He has blood on his nose, and he says, 'Mom, don't die!'" Promethia Lopez said from her hospital bed at St. Anthony Central Hospital on Monday, 20 days after the accident. "I wouldn't be alive if my son wouldn't have gotten help."

The 27-year-old Longmont mother suffered a broken pelvis, nerve damage, skull and facial fractures and paralysis on the right side of her face.

She can't open her left eye because of nerve damage, and she has trouble closing her right because of the paralysis.

On Oct. 2, Lopez was taking Joe to school in Frederick and Giovanni to her parents' house when she said her new Ford E-350 van began shaking and spinning on County Road 13.

The next thing Lopez knew, the van was tumbling down an embankment.

Lopez, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown about 35 feet. The boys, who were in seatbelts, tumbled inside the van. In the mayhem, Giovanni fell out out of his belt and was partially pinned under the van in muddy ground.

While Joe ran for help, Lopez rolled as close as she could to Giovanni."He said, 'Mom, I'm all right. I'm just stuck under the van.'"

Eventually, Joe flagged down a woman driving a white car. "I told her, 'Mommy was hurt.' "

The woman drove Joe back to his mom and brother and went to get help.

Joe put a bag of clothing under his brother's head. Then he went to his mom. "I held her hand, and I kept telling her she was going to be OK," Joe said.

Minutes later, the good Samaritan returned and wrapped a blanket around Promethia's bleeding head. She was followed closely by paramedics.

"I wish I knew who she was," Lopez said of the woman.

Her two sons were treated for scrapes and minor concussions.

"I never thought he could take control of an accident," Lopez said. "I would have died."