Teen pushes nephew to safety, struck by truck in Olney

OLNEY (WPVI) -- Police say a teen pushed his young nephew out of the way, before being struck by a truck in Philadelphia's Olney section.

The incident happened at the intersection of 3rd and Duncanon about 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Relatives say 17-year-old Daqua Brown was walking his 12-year-old nephew home from school.

He was at the crosswalk when witnesses say the driver of a truck blew a stop sign and was about to strike both of them.

Brown managed to push his nephew out of the way before he himself was struck.

"The car behind us continued to run off the scene. He got stuck in traffic right where we are standing. I ran down the street, jumped in his car, threw his car in park, I grabbed his keys, pulled him out the car," said Javier Cordero, victim's father-in-law.

One witness, who did not want to be identified, said the driver, Jun Choi, did not have his eyes on the road when the accident happened.

"He was like on his phone while he was driving, and then when he saw like what he hit, when he hit him, then he like put the phone down," the witness said.

Choi denies being on the phone, but admits he was distracted.

He claims he didn't stop because there were 40-50 students who began kicking his truck and cursing at him.

"You got scared for your life?" asked reporter Dann Cuellar.

"Yes, scared, yes, scared, yes, scared," said Choi.

"Everybody that was out here was chasing after the truck, and he continued to run down the street," said Cordero.

The victim was taken by ambulance to Einstein Medical Center where he is being treated for serious back injuries.

Meanwhile, relatives say they had to call 911 numerous times, and after an hour-and-a-half, finally had to flag down a police wagon that was passing by to tell them what happened.

When asked how many calls were made to 911, Cordero responded, "About 17-19 calls and everybody else was calling right alone with me.

"When I called, I asked the last supervisor what was taking them so long, and he advised me that there's other more important stuff than what just occurred here, happening in the district."

Action News did contact a spokeswoman at police headquarters, who tells us they are looking into the matter to see what was the deal in this case.

Meanwhile, the driver was given a traffic citation and allowed to drive off. No charges are pending at this time.

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