A California woman has died after a suicidal man jumped from a Los Angeles-area highway overpass, landing on her and her husband’s vehicle.
Florencio and Margarita Novela Galindo were driving down the 210 Freeway in Sylmar on August 9 for a weekend out of town when a man who had been threatening to jump from the Roxford overpass leaped off the bridge and went through their windshield, ABC7 reported.
While Florencio, who was driving, was not seriously injured by the impact of the man, Margarita was critically wounded while sitting in the passenger seat. The jumper died.
“Once he told me ambulances were on the way and he pulled over to the side and couldn’t open the doors, that’s when I knew it was serious,” the couple’s son, David Galindo, said.
After fighting for her life in the ICU for several weeks, Margarita succumbed to her injuries on Wednesday.
“What if she stopped to get gas? What if she stopped to get water? This probably [wouldn’t] have happened,” her grieving son told ABC7.
Margarita’s daughter, Stephanie Galindo, also thought about what might have been.
“It could’ve just been two seconds off, two inches away, my mom would’ve been fine,” she said.
Florencio is heartbroken over the loss of his wife, but also has empathy for the man who inadvertently killed her while taking his own life.
“He doesn’t know what problems he may have had to commit suicide, but he doesn’t have any resentment,” David said in Spanish of his father.
A GoFundMe for the family has raised over $10,000.