Girl Pulled from Under Car in Collision Near Bay Terraces Schools

A girl was struck by a vehicle early Wednesday near two schools in the Bay Terraces/Paradise Hills area of San Diego, her grandfather told NBC 7.

The victim, identified by police as a juvenile, was rushed to Rady Children's Hospital.

San Diego Fire-Rescue crews helped the victim after she was struck just after 8 a.m. near Paradise Valley and Briarwood roads. The location is less than a mile north of Bell Middle School and less than a mile south of Boone Elementary School.

Raul Belgra was walking his granddaughter and another child to school. He said the group was in the crosswalk and had almost reached the middle of the road when the incident happened.

"They were in front of me," Belgra said. “I see the car.”

Belgra said he grabbed one child's backpack to keep the child from being hit by the car. He soon realized his granddaughter had been hit.

"The car stopped then we say to the driver, 'What happened, what happened' but my granddaughter was under the car," he said.

Other drivers stopped to help, he said.

“They lift the car and pull my granddaughter from under the car,” he said.

Jerry Guevara had just dropped off his child at school when he saw the rescue.

“She was actually under the front axle,” said Jerry Guevara. “They lifted the car and pulled her out.”

Guevara said he watched as the paramedics from a nearby fire station jumped in to treat the girl.

"My heart was pounding," he said. "I was like, 'Please be alive, please be alive.'"

The injuries to the pedestrian were unknown, officials told NBC 7.

Belgra said his granddaughter talked a little bit after the collision and he's not sure of her injuries.

The driver of the vehicle stopped and was being questioned by police near the crash scene.

He told NBC 7 he was going southbound on Briarwood, making a left turn onto Paradise Valley Road and didn’t see the child.

Both schools are in the San Diego Unified School District which reopened Tuesday after the winter break.

No other information was immediately available.

Check back for updates on this breaking news story.