A badly injured East Bay toddler is on the slow path to recovery in hospital after he was run over by a heavy truck while riding his bike on June 13. But he has had lots of care and support, including a visit from one of the people who came to his aid earlier at the accident scene.
Two-year-old James Saneaux was hit by a commercial truck at the Cowell Road and Treat Boulevard intersection, Concord at 2:15 pm while on the crosswalk, according to local police.
James was riding his bicycle with his mother behind him at the time of the accident.
The young boy’s father, Juan Saneuaux, received an urgent call from his wife minutes after the accident.
“She was telling me about his legs and how he got hit,” Saneuaux told Bay Area’s CBS News. “I could hear him screaming in the background.”
The father also told CBS News that he also met Leon Valdez, a bystander who immediately went to help his son.
Valdez, a father of two young sons himself, was driving home when he witnessed the accident.
Outside the hospital where James is recovering, Valdez told the news broadcaster that other drivers got out of their cars and ran over to help, but the damage was already done.
“There was the truck and the trailer, and I see the little boy rolling under the trailer, so I quickly ran out of the car,” Valdez said. “It’s just heartbreaking to see.
“The mother and I were there, and you could just see the gash in his leg,” he said. “It was just, it was bad.”
James was rushed to the hospital, where he has undergone several surgeries since the accident.
Valdez has visited James and the family in the hospital to show his support.
Police say the truck driver remained at the scene and cooperated with the investigation. According to police, no drugs or alcohol were involved.
James is expected to fully recover at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland to resume doing what his father says are all the things he can on wheels at his young age.
“Before he turned two, he was riding with no training wheels, skateboarding, scootering, he loves being active and out,” Saneuaux said.
His family have set up a gofundme page to help pay for his medical expenses.
The intersection at Cowell Road and Treat Boulevard has seen 44 collisions occur from 2011 to 2021, one of the crashes involving serious injuries, none fatal.
