By Miguel Liscano
Austin American-Statesman

AUSTIN, Texas — Austin Fire Department Lt. John Green was on his way home from work Monday when he saw the sedan pinned under an 18-wheeler on Texas 80 southeast of San Antonio and pulled over.

He checked each of the two people in the front, 27-year-old Manuel Medina Sanchez and 6-year-old Antonio Sanchez , for a pulse. Neither of them had one.

But in the back seat, 3-year-old Nyalli Sanchez's heart kept beating.

She wasn't responsive or breathing, though.

So he put one hand on her jaw, another on the top of her head and tilted it up to try to open an airway.

"She took a big breath, and I was like 'whoo, that's good.'"

A few minutes before Green got there, about 3:45 p.m., Sanchez , of Killeen, was driving a Honda east on the highway in Karnes County , roughly five miles northeast of Gillett , when he drifted into the westbound lane, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said. A westbound 18-wheeler driven by Kenneth Stacy Hester , of Temple, tried to move out of the Honda's way, but Sanchez over corrected and the two vehicles collided, Mange said.

Green, 43, who lives in Nordheim about 110 miles south of Austin, said he arrived at the scene just as a woman named Linda, a nurse, and her husband had also stopped to help. Another man and a DPS trooper also pulled over.

The car was at a roughly 70 degree angle with its hood pinned under the truck, Green said, and the truck's tire was "almost literally on the dashboard."

Nyalli Sanchez was wedged between the driver's seat, the driver's-side door and her child seat, Green said.

After she started breathing, Green and another man removed some fiberglass around her and used a jack to move some of the roof and side of the car that was crushing her, he said. Linda held her as Green went around, leaned over the trunk and grabbed her.

"I had her cradled in my arms, and we kind of just pulled her straight out," he said.

Two people pulled on his legs so he wouldn't have to use his arms to push himself out, Green said.

The elder Sanchez and Antonio Sanchez died at the scene, Mange said. Nyalli Sanchez was taken to University Hospital in San Antonio, where she was listed in critical condition Tuesday, a hospital official said.

The children's relationship with the elder Sanchez was not clear Tuesday, and family members could not be located for comment.

Mange said everyone in the Honda was wearing a seat belt or was properly secured. Hester was not seriously injured, she said.

Green, a 21-year firefighter, said he's glad the people who pulled over were at least able to make, "something positive come out of this tragedy."

"She was a very strong girl. She was fighting on her own."

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