Erick Marciano, who protected about a dozen pedestrians by steering his SUV between them and a speeding car, says he didn’t think about his own safety before the other vehicle crashed into his.Erick Marciano said he’d seen incidents in Europe where cars plowed into crowds of pedestrians, and didn’t want that to happen here. (Jaela Bernstein/CBC)Erick Marciano was stopped in his SUV, heading to a meeting Tuesday afternoon, when he saw a runaway car go blazing through a red light, followed by police in hot pursuit. Not thinking much of it, he turned left onto René-Lévesque Boulevard from Berri Street when his light turned green.Then he saw the speeding car make a U-turn in front of him, barrelling back in the opposite direction — and toward a crowd of pedestrians and construction workers at the intersection. “I didn’t want him to hurt anybody,” Marciano told CBC Montreal’s Daybreak. “I figured, sacrificing a car was really no big deal. And that’s what I did.” Honking his horn, Marciano swerved his SUV over the median, blocking the lane in front of the speeding car. The vehicle slammed into the passenger side of his car. Only the suspect was injured. Now, police are hailing Marciano as a hero for protecting the dozen or so pedestrians who were in harm’s way. Heat of the moment decision Marciano said the intersection was busy with people going to the nearby CHUM superhospital, workers out on their lunch break and ever-present construction workers. “It came into my mind, I said: ‘this isn’t going to happen here,” he said. Erick Marciano used his SUV to block a speeding car. It was heavily damaged, but his insurance company said it will not hold him responsible for the crash. (Simon-Marc Charron/Radio-Canada) He said he wasn’t thinking about his own safety in the moment, but was confident his truck could take the hit. “I figured, he had a Honda, and there was no way he was going over the median,” he said. “For me, that was the safest thing to do.” After the crash, he said the suspect’s vehicle was still running, its wheels spinning slowly in the snow. Police arrested the 19-year-old driver at the scene, and he is expected to appear in court Wednesday afternoon to face charges of impaired driving and dangerous driving. Damage ‘doesn’t matter,’ he says Marciano spent the next three hours in a cruiser as he waited to be interviewed by grateful police. “They were very, very thankful. Very thankful. Too thankful — it was embarrassing!” He said his family was shocked when they heard what he’d done, but were also supportive. Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante tweeted her thanks Wednesday morning, saying that his “heroic gesture saved the lives of many pedestrians.” His SUV was heavily damaged in the collision, but Marciano’s insurance company told him Wednesday morning they were not holding him responsible for the crash. “What matters is the outcome, and everything’s well, and everybody could go home last night.” Listen to Erick Marciano’s full interview here: A driver is being credited with potentially saving the lives of a number of pedestrians in downtown Montreal yesterday afternoon. Police tried to stop a car driving erratically on Rene-Levesque boulevard. The driver first refused to pull over…before making a u-turn and coming to a halt. But as officers got out to approach the car….the car began speeding toward a busy intersection of St Denis street. That’s when Montrealer Erick Marciano used his SUV to prevent the speeding driver from slamming into the pedestrians. We speak to him on Daybreak. 8:50
‘I didn’t want him to hurt anybody,’ says Montrealer who used SUV to protect pedestrians from speeding car | CBC News
