Police and bystanders save baby trapped under car after driver hits mother and baby
By Laura Ly and Theresa Waldrop, CNN
Two police officers and bystanders saved an 8-month-old baby who became trapped underneath a car after a driver hit a mother and baby in Yonkers, New York, police said.
Around 8:30 a.m. Friday, the driver swerved around a corner, struck a curb and hit a parked car before hitting the 36-year-old mother, according to a news release from the Yonkers Police Department. Surveillance video from the scene shows she was crossing the street with her baby when she was hit.
The car then crashed into a barber shop, pinning the baby underneath the car, police said.
Two officers who were getting breakfast at a nearby bagel shop responded when they heard the collision and found the mother in the wreckage of the crash inside the barber shop, police said.
“The officers with the help of bystanders heroically LIFTED THE VEHICLE off of the baby so she could be rescued and given medical aid. The officers then rendered medical aid to both victims while requesting the necessary additional resources to the scene,” the release said.
The mother suffered a broken leg and her baby sustained a skull fracture and third-degree burns to her back and foot, police said. Both were transported to a local hospital for treatment and are expected to survive their injuries, police said. The owner of the barber shop suffered a minor cut. The identities of the victims were not released.
A felony complaint filed in court named David Poncurak, 43, as the driver, and alleged that Poncurak was driving while intoxicated, “as shown by observations of the defendant, which included the odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath, glassy eyes, and impaired speech.”
Poncurak and his female passenger weren’t injured. Police said the driver had a suspended license and they found an alcoholic beverage inside the car.
Poncurak was arrested and charged with second-degree aggravated vehicular assault causing serious physical injury to more than one other person, according to the complaint.
CNN has reached out to Poncurak’s attorney for comment.
“It is always a tragedy when someone is injured by the reckless and criminal acts of another person, and that is only amplified when those injured include an infant,” said Yonkers Police Commissioner John Mueller in a statement.
“The actions taken [by the two police officers] are nothing short of heroic. The individual arrested in this incident will now have to face the consequences of his alleged behavior,” Mueller said.
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CNN’s Elizabeth Joseph contributed to this report.
