A woman retrieving her young child from their car was struck by a passing motorist Tuesday afternoon in Montgomery County, Maryland, and had to have a leg amputated, police officials said.
The mother, 28, was flown by helicopter with life-threatening injuries to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, said Officer Rick Goodale, a Montgomery police spokesman.
The child, a girl about 1 year old, received far less serious injuries, Goodale said. She was taken to Children’s National Medical Center, according to Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service.
Investigators believe the baby was still strapped in her carrier-type car seat, which the mother had taken out of the vehicle, Goodale said. The car seat was either thrown or dropped after the collision, but the child remained in the seat, he said.
The wreck occurred about 3:15 p.m., Goodale said. The woman had just parked her car, a Mazda 3 sedan.
Investigators are trying to put together how the wreck occurred and what factors led to it.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Dan Morse
