Photo: ashley dias/instagram
A volunteer crossing guard is being hailed as a hero after he died saving a student from an oncoming car.
Ashley Dias, 45, was helping direct Stanley Middle School students after school let out around 3 p.m. in Lafayette, California, on Tuesday when there was an accident involving an SUV.
Ashley and a student were hit, ABC 7 reported. The student, whose identity and age have not been identified, suffered minor injuries, but Ashley was rushed to the hospital where he later died.
A witness, sixth-grader Stella Champion, described the scene to ABC 7, saying that Ashley helped at least one student out of harm’s way. Fox 2 reported that other witnesses said hepushed several students out of the way, preventing them from being hit.
Ashley Diaz.ashley dias/instagram
Ashley grew up Lafayette, and attended Stanley Middle School when he was a student. He worked in tech in San Francisco, and would often volunteer as a crossing guard when he was home visiting his parents, they told ABC 7.
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“It is unbelievable, just this morning we spoke to him, in the afternoon we spoke to him before he went at 2 o’clock for the crossing,” Ashley’s father Fabio Dias told the news station.
“He was a great son,” Fabio added, calling Ashley’s death “devastating.”
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Ashley’s mother, Gloria Dias, told ABC 7 that the father of one of the students her son rescued credited him with saving his daughter’s life.
“He died a hero, but he’ll never come back to us, he’s gone,” she tearfully said.
The driver of the SUV was the grandmother of a Stanley Middle School student, according to the news station. It was not immediately clear if charges are being pressed.
On Wednesday and Thursday, students brought flowers and posters to leave and the scene of the accident, thanking Ashley for his heroism.
source: people.com
