A woman lay unconscious on University Avenue in St. Paul, and the people who had stopped to help her Tuesday night could hear sirens getting closer.

As some of them helped the woman, others waved away the oncoming traffic.

But no one could stop the gray four-door sedan barreling down the westbound lane.

Without ever slowing down, police say, the car ran over the woman and forced those helping her to jump onto nearby light-rail tracks to avoid being struck themselves. The car then dragged the woman another 20 feet before turning south on Dale Street and disappearing, according to St. Paul police Sgt. Mike Ernster. A couple of minutes later, police and paramedics arrived.

Antoinette Elizabeth Boxer, 49, died Wednesday at Regions Hospital. On Thursday, Ernster stood on the corner of Mackubin and University, asking for anyone who knows what happened to help police find the driver who killed her.

Paris Dishmon, Boxer's daughter, said she believes her mother had been drinking and had fallen down. "The people who were helping her were trying to help her get up," Dishmon said softly. "We are so grateful to them."

Dishmon was not with her mother at the time, but got a tearful phone call from her grandmother that night, telling her to get to Regions, where police asked her to help them identify the body.

Dishmon described Boxer as a good woman, outgoing. Caring. "She loved to make people smile," she said.

Boxer carried a Bible with her wherever she went, Dishmon said, and would often look up a scripture passage to help her — and others — get through hard times. For Boxer, those hard times included drinking. She had lived with her daughter off and on over the years, Dishmon said, and had lived with her this year until she entered treatment about four months ago.

"She was working to straighten up her life," the daughter said Thursday.

Investigators are working with the Ramsey County medical examiner to determine an exact cause of death, Ernster said, and police also plan to review video from several cameras in the area.

Police also are asking anyone who may have witnessed the accident or who may know the suspect to call 651-266-5798.

James Walsh • 651-925-5041