SAN DIEGO — WARNING: The video above contains graphic content. Viewer discretion advised.
The postal worker struck by a car that pinned against his parked mail truck last week in National City is recovering at UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest after four surgeries.
His wife Yareth Sanchez, who is also a mail carrier, said she dropped the mail in her hands when she found out her husband had been hit and pinned against his mail truck.
The legs of Romulo Ruiz, 27, wound up crushed up against his truck after a man suffered a medical emergency and lost control of his car.
Witnesses were able to get into the other vehicle, put its transmission into reverse and back it off of Ruiz.
“You don’t always see people coming and out. They are home. He could have easily bled to death,” said Sanchez.
Since that day, Ruiz has had four surgeries. His wife said she is grateful he is alive.
“He is a tough cookie. He loves his job. We are fighting for tomorrow,” said Sanchez.
The moment Ruiz was hit by the car was captured on surveillance video, for Sanchez, it is too hard to watch.
“How severe and graphic it was, it just kind of breaks my heart. It could have been anybody. An hour later it probably could have been two or three students,” she said.
Sanchez had only been a mail carrier for three days when she received the news about her husband.
“I am shocked. I dropped my mail. I turn [sic] white. I don’t know how to act,” she said.
According to Sanchez, the man who hit her husband was not supposed to be driving.
“I know the was not supposed to be driving the vehicle. It was not his first time. I know he was getting medical treatment elsewhere than California. That is the reason why he still had his license here,” she said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for help Ruiz pay medical bills. So far, it has raised over $4,000.
“It is shocking to me to know that there is a community out there that is rooting for him. People we don’t know. People we have never met,” she said.
Sanchez said she is hoping for the best.
“Thank God we have already passed through all the major surgeries that have needed to be done. Now, it is just going to be based on his recovery process,” she said.