Woman struck by city truck

The trip along the parade route ended abruptly.

Less than two hours before the bagpipes skirled and the Marines marched past a festive, flag-waving crowd, the city employee - driving in the middle lane near the entrance of the Park Street MBTA station on Boston Common - slammed on her brakes.

The Ford pickup did not stop in time.

Rivera, who was still clanging his bell on the corner of Winter and Tremont streets about 11:20 a.m., watched in horror as the 76-year-old woman with the black handbag walked into the street, outside the crosswalk.

She was hit by the driver’s side of the pickup’s grill and thrown about 6 feet in the air, Rivera and other witnesses said. When she landed, blood oozed from her head.

“I’m still recovering from the sight,’’ said Rivera, 42, a Salvation Army volunteer. “It’s just really sad. It could have been my mother.’’

Diana Fitzpatrick, 32, of Everett was drinking coffee in a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts when she saw pedestrians and the city employee swarm around the woman, whose name authorities didn’t release.

She was not moving.

The driver, whose name also was withheld, was in tears.

By that point, within minutes of the crash, police and paramedics were on the scene, administering life support.

“It was very traumatizing,’’ Fitzgerald said. “It sticks with me. I feel very sad.’’

Army Sergeant Michael Lydon was walking to Downtown Crossing from a ceremony honoring veterans at the State House when he heard “screeching tires and then a thump.’’

He went to help, but could do nothing. The woman had landed face-down, he said, and the paramedics were at work. “It was definitely an uncomfortable sight,’’ he said.

Paramedics took the woman to Tufts Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition, with life-threatening injuries, late last night.

Over the next hour, investigators sealed off one of the city’s busiest intersections, interviewed witnesses, took photographs of the pickup, measured the area of impact, and tested the truck’s brakes.

Boston Public Works Commissioner Dennis Royer said the driver of the pickup, a sanitation inspector who has been a city employee for only a few weeks, was extremely upset by the collision. He said that she had a clean driving record and that she told supervisors the woman walked in front of her truck.

“She hit the brakes, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough stopping distance,’’ Royer said.

He said she has been put on paid administrative leave and will work a desk job when she returns, until police finish the investigation.

“We’re extremely sympathetic to the woman that was hit and also to our employee, because I know how traumatic an incident like this can be,’’ Royer said.

Shortly before 1 p.m., just as the parade was scheduled to meander down Tremont, police removed the yellow tape that blocked much of the area.

A firetruck chuffed into the intersection, and several firefighters hopped off with a large hose. They blasted the street with water, until all remnants of the woman’s presence were washed away.

As the truck pulled away, the only signs of the accident were a few puddles on the street.

By that time, Tremont Street was lined with hundreds of festive people festooned in patriotic attire, many of them oblivious to what had happened.

Mary Ann Ponti, 43, who had a small flag in the breast pocket of her red jacket, stood at Tremont and Winter streets, holding her Yorkshire terrier named Cannoli, who was dressed in a flag-themed sweater.

Just as eager to see the parade was Joan Duane, 57, a teacher who could not wait to see her students from Dorchester’s Jeremiah E. Burke High School march down Tremont.

They stood a few feet from the puddles, unaware of the tragedy that briefly delayed the parade.

Minutes later, a pipe-and-drums troop made its way down Tremont, followed by Marines, Army soldiers, and ROTC cadets from throughout the city. Crowds cheered from each side of the street.

Ramon Rivera had just returned to his Salvation Army post after making a statement to police about what he had witnessed. He could not believe the difference an hour could make in one intersection in the city.

He stared at the cheerful crowds, the newly cleaned street, and shook his head in amazement.

“It’s surreal,’’ he said. “Like a movie.’’

But he thought it was better that the parade went on.

“This is life in a city,’’ he said.

David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com. Donovan Slack of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.