EXCLUSIVE: Daughter Of Elderly Couple Injured In Road Rage Accident Speaks Out
By Elizabeth Hur
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- An elderly couple remains hospitalized after a violent road rage crash.
"They're an inspiration. Now my poor parents, all we're doing is praying," Donna Haas said.
In an exclusive interview with Eyewitness News, Haas says her parents, 90-year-old Aaron Goldblum and 82-year-old Susan Goldblum, were the ones injured in the mangled mess, falling victim to an apparent case of road rage.
Haas explained, "My father told me that a car just appeared, going what he thought was 80 or 90 miles an hour straight at them. Hit them head on and he said the noise, the loudness -- it was horrific. Horrific pain, my father's sternum is cracked, multiple rib fractures, my mother has rib fractures, one of her lungs was punctured…"
It all started with a fender bender, police say, on Tuesday at 54th and City Avenue. According to police, 25-year-old Isaiah Mack was driving a Buick when he hit another car driven by 29-year-old Andrae Salmon.
Police say Mack fled the scene and Salmon chased after him. Eyewitnesses say Mack then got into another crash in the 2200 block of Bryn Mawr Avenue, this time, hitting the Goldblums head-on.
"And in that split second, he said to himself, 'This is it,' and my mother told me she, herself, at that instant said to herself, 'This is it, we're gone,'" Haas said.
It was a near-death experience for the couple, married 57 years, all because police say Mack and Salmon could not contain their anger, getting into a chase ending with Salmon allegedly pulling a knife on Mack.
"Hopefully, we'll have a good ending to this horrible thing that happened, and maybe people who hear about that will learn from that and maybe think twice before they themselves act out in a rage," Haas said.
As of late Wednesday night, the Goldblums remained in the Intensive Care Unit at Hahnemann University Hospital, but fortunately, were awake and talking.
Police say both suspects have been officially charged with assault and related offenses and both will be held accountable.
