A California grandmother was on her way to a weekend trip with her husband when a suicidal man jumped off a highway overpass and crashed into the windshield of her car, killing her.
Margarita Novela Galindo was sitting in the passenger seat next to her husband, Florencio, while driving on the 210 Freeway near Sylmar, California, around 7 p.m. on August 9th. According to KABC.
Around the same time, the Los Angeles Fire Department received a report of a man threatening to commit suicide by jumping off the overpass on Roxford Street.
Family members said the man crashed through the windshield of Galindo's car and fell on the mother of three children.
Florencio was not seriously injured.
Galindo was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition, where he spent several weeks in intensive care before dying from his injuries.
“She fought bravely for nearly three weeks, but on Aug. 28, doctors told us she would not recover,” David Galindo said. On GoFundMe. “Sadly, my mother has passed away, leaving me, my brother, my sister and seven grandchildren.”
The grieving son said his father is “now alone, having lost the person he loved the most.”
“It is incredibly unfair that my mother's life was taken because of someone else's unwanted actions,” the crowdfunding post read. “She was a loving and caring person and our family is heartbroken and struggling to cope with this unimaginable loss.”
The grieving family is left asking “what if” how their mother could have survived the tragic accident.
“What if she had stopped to get gas? What if she had stopped to get some water? Maybe this wouldn't have happened,” David said.
“If they'd been two seconds, two inches slower, my mother would have been OK,” added Margarita's daughter, Stephanie Galindo.
“I'm just sad and a little angry that that was her fate, her end,” Stephanie said. He told KTLA.
“She went on a trip and never came back,” she added. “That's what I'm angry about – that we never said 'goodbye.'”
Adult children who have always relied on their mothers to help raise the children are now tasked with helping their fathers.
Although Florencio is heartbroken over his wife's death, he bears no ill will toward the man who jumped.
“He doesn't know what led him to commit suicide, but he holds no grudges,” Stephanie Galindo told the outlet, translating her father's remarks in Spanish.
If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or are in a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can receive free, confidential crisis counseling by calling 1-888-NYC-WELL. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can call the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or Suicide Prevention Lifeline.org.
