Mother’s final act saved daughter’s life in fatal lorry crash

Rebecca Ableman pushed her two-year-old daughter’s buggy clear just as loose crane equipment from a lorry swung into them on a pavement in Willingham, Cambridgeshire. The impact killed the 30-year-old mother three weeks later, but Autumn walked away uninjured.

The crash happened on 22 September 2022 after Rebecca had been out shopping at a local farm shop. Kevin Miller was driving the lorry when the unsecured crane struck Rebecca from behind and hit her in the head. The violence of the blow left her with catastrophic brain injuries, and she died on 16 October 2022 in the neuro ICU at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

What happened in those seconds has become the defining detail of the case: Rebecca’s final act protected her daughter. Autumn, then two, was in a pram when the machinery swung toward them. Rebecca’s instinctive push saved the child’s life and exposed the danger posed to pedestrians when heavy equipment is not properly secured on vehicles passing through village streets.

Chris Tuczemskyi, Rebecca’s partner, later said he and Rebecca had planned to marry. He described her as the family’s “light in the darkest of nights” and said Autumn still lived because of her mother’s heroics. After Rebecca’s death, he launched a GoFundMe campaign to support Autumn and create a memorial for Rebecca. The fundraiser raised more than £18,000.

The years since have been marked by loss and the slow work of rebuilding. In 2024, Autumn started school for the first time, a milestone her father said came with the continuing pain of missing her mum.

In April 2026, Miller was jailed for 13 months at Peterborough Crown Court after admitting causing death by careless driving. The sentence closed one chapter of the case, but it also left a stark picture of how a routine walk on a pavement turned deadly because of failures that should never have reached a family path.