Watch speeding driver, on course to hit family with stroller, get T-boned at last second

A family trying to cross a busy intersection with their baby in a stroller at night may have the stars to thank after a drunk driver who looked certain to plow into them after blowing through a red light was T-boned at the last second by an oncoming car.

Police released traffic-light video of the harrowing incident, which took place at around 10:10 p.m. Oct. 14 at an intersection in Phoenix. It shows a couple pushing their 1-year-old son in a stroller across the wide intersection as cars were making left-hand turns onto the street ahead of them. Suddenly, a Jeep Renegade traveling at speed enters the intersection, speeding through the red light and aimed directly at them. Then, a black Chevrolet Cruze appears at the last second, plowing into the side of the Jeep and pushing it off course mere feet from the family, who then scramble to safety.

Police arrested Ernesto Otanez Oveso, 28, and charged him with DUI and aggravated assault, plus unlawful possession of a firearm after they found a gun in his Renegade. He reportedly attempted to flee the scene on foot but was apprehended — but not before pulling a knife on a witness to the crash who was trailing him, according to reports.

The driver of the Cruze, Shannon Vivar, said she was headed home from a Walmart with her mother and 3-year-old son when she heard her mother yell after seeing the Jeep running the red. She suffered minor injuries in the crash. “I kind of think it was meant to happen,” Vivar said in a news conference Thursday.

Phoenix is a notoriously dangerous place for pedestrians, with 92 deaths in 2017 — with Arizona’s highest rate of pedestrian deaths among cities with populations above 10,000. That's because of its wide boulevards, relatively high speed limits and outmoded road designs, an Arizona Republic investigation found. Pedestrian fatalities have risen in the state’s biggest city for three straight years.

Nationwide, the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed by vehicles rose 3.4% last year to 6,238. That’s the highest level since 1990, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.