NEW YORK, Aug. 15, 2008
Bystanders Lift Bus Off Pregnant Mom
Quick Action Saves NYC Woman's Baby, But She Dies
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Pedro Espada, Jr., second from left, president of the Soundview Healthcare Network, is joined by a group including clergy, community leaders and residents, as he speaks during a vigil outside St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, New York, Aug. 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Seven months pregnant, Donnette Sanz was crossing one of the busiest intersections in the Bronx on her lunch break when she was struck by a van whose brakes failed. The impact sent the 33-year-old police department traffic agent flying into the path of a yellow school bus and pinned her underneath.
About 30 people helped lift the bus, and Sanz was rushed to a hospital, where doctors delivered her boy by Caesarean section. The 3-pound, 6-ounce infant, named Sean Michael, was in critical condition Friday but showing signs of improvement.
Mourners and neighborhood residents gathered outside the hospital to pray for Sanz and her child.
The 72-year-old van driver, Walter Walker, pleaded not guilty to criminally negligent homicide and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. He was being held on $100,000 bail, and his attorney didn't immediately return a phone call.
A day after welcoming his miracle baby into the world, the victim's husband lashed out at Walker, reports CBS station WCBS-TV in New York.
"I hope that guy rots in hell," said Rafael Sanz.
Police said in a court filing that the brakes on Walker's van had deteriorated so badly that the vehicle was unsafe to drive. Walker told investigators he had some repairs done six months ago but knew there were still problems.
Police said Walker's license has been suspended 20 times, most recently for failure to pay parking tickets. He had previously been sentenced to probation and fines for driving offenses.
"We was riding along, coming down the hill," John Dargan, a passenger in Walker's van, told the Daily News. "He said, 'Oh, my Lord, I don't have no brakes.' It happened so quick. I just closed my eyes."
Walker told the New York Post: "The light turned red, and I couldn't stop. I tried to miss her." He said he had been using his brother's van to help a friend move.
Sanz, a Bronx resident, had been a civilian member of the New York Police Department for two years.
Bystanders, including Gary Burgess, came in waves to lift the mini school bus from Sanz's body.
"It was the human thing to do," said Burgess, 50.
There were no children on the bus at the time.
Sanz survived the delivery in an emergency operating room at St. Barnabas Hospital but died about an hour later, spokesman Fred Winters said.
The baby was taken to the neonatal intensive-care unit and placed on a ventilator. He was still in critical condition Friday but "is basically healthy," Winters said.
At the hospital on Thursday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg met with Sanz's husband, Rafael, to offer his condolences.
"It's a terrible poignancy that Donnette's son's birthday will now coincide with the day his mother died," the mayor said. "I hope that as this child grows up, he comes to understand that his mother gave her life in service to our city and that we are forever grateful."
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- His social security should go to the child. RIP Ms Sanz.
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- Edwards is still saying he is NOT the father. Make him go on the Maury show so we can get the real truth about this miracle baby.
lol - Reply to this comment
- He was 72, driving an unlicensed vehicle (perhaps his employer''s fault) and knew there were brake problems. All according to the report.
He needs to go to jail and forfeit his Social Security. - Reply to this comment
- Adrenaline can cause super human strength and block severe pain. I broke my neck in 3 places, and my back in 7 places, sustaining nerve damage to both my arm and leg, and didnt even realize it till one of our staff docs noticed my pant leg was so tight on my one leg, from my mid calf to my hip. I was then immobilized and taken by ambulance to the hospital, even tho I swore I wasnt in any major pain. Unless you have experienced Adrenaline rushes, its pretty hard to comprehend. But humans are able to do unusual things. There was a report a few yrs ago, about a 5''2 105lb woman lifting a truck off a child. It is truly amazing.
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The report said
"Police said in a court filing that the brakes on Walker''s van had deteriorated so badly that the vehicle was unsafe to drive. Walker told investigators he had some repairs done six months ago but knew there were still problems.
Police said Walker''s license has been suspended 20 times, most recently for failure to pay parking tickets. He had previously been sentenced to probation and fines for driving offenses."
Must be confused on the term probation unlicensed that usually no insurance, and no care
Not a Nice Situation
I hope the baby Servives
Officer Donnette Sanz REST-IN-PEACE!- Reply to this comment
- "Police said in a court filing that the brakes on Walker''s van had deteriorated so badly that the vehicle was unsafe to drive. Walker told investigators he had some repairs done six months ago but knew there were still problems."
Stupid old f a r t should have had the brakes on the van fixed. You think driving is a game, geezer? Straight to the nursing home with you! If that was my mother you killed, I would have turned your wrinkled body into a human pretzel. - Reply to this comment
- nycsense...
Wasnt biblethumping, just pointing out that you were expressly telling someone to be nice and proceeding to be quite rude in telling them...double standard sort of thing... "Do as I say, not as I do." But that''s not what the story is about. It''s about some unfortunate(by our human standard) woman meeting her end, and a guy in a van who probably made a mistake in judgement...and life in its smallest viable form surviving. May God Bless him and keep him and her relatives... and you :) - Reply to this comment
- Still that''''s almost 500 pounds per person, and I bet they all weren''''t big construction workers.
Too bad the mother died, but they did save the baby''''s life.
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Posted by erb0087 at 05:28 PM : Aug 15, 2008
+ report abuse
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adrenaline makes the body do wonders.. - Reply to this comment
- This is a tragic story. I hope that those who helped this poor soul would remember the power of "kindness" for the rest of thier lives and may it shape it towards a bright future for the cost of this is expensive.
thank you.. - Reply to this comment
- Thank GOD the public reacted and DID something rather than the recent story of the elderly man that was hit by a hit-and-run driver there on the east coast while people continued about their daily business as he lay incapacitated on the pavement!
What these people did for Ms. Sanz and her unborn baby was not just the RIGHT thing to do - it was the HUMAN thing to do. Life is far too precious to ignore someone in an emergency.
Put your bigotry, hatred, racism, political leanings, opinions, and everything else aside and just be HUMAN again. These people that helped - I hope your karma is blessed 10-fold!
I pray her baby boy - Sean Michael Sanz - realizes when he gets older that while his mother died on the day of his birth, that the human spirit of compassion and respect for life couldn''t have been any stronger or been shown with more grace than it was on his special day.
The world would be a far more beautiful place if we just ''gave a ***'' like these Bronx onlookers did. May they be blessed! - Reply to this comment
- There are dynamic loads involved but if they lifted it slowly enough they can be ignored.
Posted by pat1967 at 06:42 PM : Aug 15, 2008
You tell''em Prof'', its the ''Gravity'' of the situation. - Reply to this comment
- Statics lesson: People on one side of the bus and the wheels on the other can be modeled as a rigid beam supported by a fulcrum at either end. Each fulcrum supports half the weight if the weight is evenly distributed along the beam. In the case of a bus on its side, most of the weight is near the bottom of the bus, (end with the wheels & drive train) thus meaning that the people support something less than half of the load. There are dynamic loads involved but if they lifted it slowly enough they can be ignored.
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- It is so good to see that there are still people who care about others. May the mother be resting in the loving arms of Jesus now and may God watch over the little one. My prayers go out to the entire family.
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- Those people are heroes. The baby surviving is miraculous! Condolences to the family and friends of the mother.
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- "...then another 10 people ran over to help..."
Excuse me, 21 people.
Still that''s almost 500 pounds per person, and I bet they all weren''t big construction workers.
Too bad the mother died, but they did save the baby''s life. - Reply to this comment
- In the United States a ton is 2,000 pounds.
So a 5-ton bus 10,000 pounds.
For a small crowd of 10 or so people to lift that much even partially off the ground is incredible, particularly since it was a large object to get ahold of, not something compact.
The human body is capable of amazing things in an emergency. - Reply to this comment
- After learning that the baby was another of Jessie Jackson''''s "love children", the bystanders decided to leave the bus on top of the pregnant woman.
Posted by SistaTee at 05:11 PM : Aug 15, 2008
Siss on you Pister, you ain''t so mucking ****. - Reply to this comment
- Very sorry about the mother but I''m happy the baby was saved and reading the part about how the people helped did me a world of good.
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- Very sorry about the mother but I''m happy the baby was saved and reading the part about how the people helped did me a world of good.
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- No matter what other nations say, That is what Americans do best. (Help those in need)
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