A mother pushing her baby in a stroller narrowly escaped being hit by an out-of-control livery cab in the Bronx Tuesday, police and a witness said.
The 17-year-old mother grabbed her baby from the stroller moments after it was struck by the cab, police said.
"She said when she came off the bus, the car just came, and she tried to help save the baby," said Vanessa Sanchez, a cousin of the mother, Alondra Gervacio.
The livery cab, a 2005 Lincoln town car, was traveling south on Prospect Avenue in Longwood at around 12:45 p.m. when the 68-year-old driver passed out behind the wheel, police said.
The cab hit another car stopped at a red light at Westchester Avenue and an empty parked car before it went up onto the sidewalk.
Security video obtained by NBC 4 New York shows the car swiping Gervacio as she was walking with the stroller.
A witness told NBC 4 New York the cab hit the stroller while the 8-month-old baby was still inside.
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"I was definitely nervous for [the mother]," Joshua Sarasua, 24, said. "She went under the cab and took the baby out of the stroller from under the cab."
The cab then rammed into a Dunkin Donuts.
The mother and the baby girl, named Perla, were treated for minor scrapes and bruises at Lincoln Hospital, where they were listed in good condition.
The driver of the cab, identified as Theodore Rogers of the Bronx, was also brought to Lincoln Hospital, where he later died. Police are investigating the cause of his death.
