What could have been a disastrously tragic scene became a heroic one in Ucluelet last week when a local storeowner darted across Peninsula Road to save a toddler stepping into oncoming traffic.
Bill Young was walking his dog Happy in front of Norwood’s Restaurant around noon on July 6 when he saw a little girl break away from her mother on the green space in front of Ucluelet’s ANAF Hall and run towards the road.
He said the mother took chase, but was too far back to reach the little girl who wasn’t visible to southbound traffic because she was behind a parked car on Peninsula.
Young said he then saw Carla Dave Anderson racing towards the little girl from her Ocean Pet Supplies store across the street, throwing caution to the wind as a tractor trailer nearly ended her pursuit.
“I started to run after her too and Carla beat me to it. I wouldn’t have been there in time to save her, but Carla put her own life on the line running across the street to save that little girl,” Young said. “She was lucky that she didn’t get hit.”
Anderson told the Westerly she had been making a dog tag at the front of her shop when she noticed the little girl heading towards the road.
“I realized that mom was not going to get to baby before baby hit the street, so I ran out the door and across the street. When I came back in, my friend that was here informed me that I was about two-feet from being hit by a semi,” Anderson said. “I didn’t think of anything; I just ran. I had to save the baby…There’s just no way I’m watching a baby get run over. That’s not happening.”
