A Long Island nanny is being credited with saving the 9-month-old boy in her care after police say she pushed his stroller out of the way of an oncoming car just before it struck her.
Police say the 62-year-old Oceanside woman is in a medically induced coma following the Thursday afternoon incident in Rockville Centre. The baby was unharmed.
Witnesses said she pushed the stroller out of the way before she was struck by a car making a left turn, authorities said.
Neighbor Anthony Galvan was smoking a cigarette on his front porch and watched in horror as a turning car slammed into the woman.
"It's like when you're yelling to yourself, like 'noooo,'" he told NBC 4 New York.
The woman was pinned underneath the car but the baby boy in the carriage was spared, thanks to the nanny's selfless reaction.
"The nanny, when she saw the vehicle coming at her, she actually pushed the carriage out of the way and took the impact of the vehicle on herself," said Rockville Centre Police Lt. James Faveada.
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Several witnesses rushed to the nanny's aid and tried to lift the car off her. Ultimately, first responders rushed her to the hospital.
Police said the nanny had been walking in the crosswalk with the traffic light but the driver simply didn't see her in time.
No criminal charges are being filed, but the 70-year-old woman who was behind the wheel was distraught about what happened, according to police.
As for the nanny's actions, Galvan wasn't surprised.
"If you assume that she's maybe a grandmother or mother herself, that's maternal instinct maybe," he said.
The baby's family lives in a building just across from where the accident happened. A man who answered the door Friday said the family did not wish to comment at the time.
