AURORA — A 2-year-old boy is in critical condition today after he was hit by a truck last night while crossing a street to join his father.

The boy, who police have not identified, was lifeless when a neighbor rushed to the scene and administered CPR.

"His father was holding him in the middle of the street, saying 'My son, my son,'" said Jennifer Elder, who lives in the same condominium complex as the boy's family.

"(The boy's) father was trying to administer CPR, but he was too emotional and was shaking the boy and telling him, 'Wake up.' I asked if I could help," said Elder, a special education teacher at Gateway High School in Aurora who put her CPR training to use for the first time.

She said the boy didn't have a pulse or heartbeat when she got to him.

"Today they're saying that the bleeding of the brain doesn't look as bad as they thought it was last night," Aurora Police Lt. Troy Edwards said of the boy, who is on a ventilator.

The accident occurred about 9 p.m. at the intersection of South Waco Way and East Kentucky Avenue, Edwards said.

The father, an aunt and the boy were in their front yard when the father went across the street to talk with a neighbor, thinking that the boy was with the aunt, Edwards said. The aunt had gone inside the home, thinking the boy was following her.

A gray Mitsubishi pickup, traveling west on Kentucky, hit the boy when he crossed the street. Elder said after the driver hit the boy, a family member ran in front of the truck and put his hand on the hood so that the driver would not flee.

The boy was taken to a local hospital for treatment and later was flown to Children's Hospital.

Police said the driver, whose name has not been released, is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol.

He was released pending toxicology results, which could take about two weeks, Edwards said.