Author: AP
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 17, 2008
Dozens of New Yorkers converged from all directions
to lift a 5-tonne bus off the body of a pregnant woman pinned underneath-a
superhuman effort that managed to save the life of her child but was too late
for her.
Seven months pregnant, Donnette Sanz was crossing
one of the busiest intersections in the Bronx on her lunch break on Thursday
when she was struck by a van whose brakes failed. The impact sent the 33-yearold
NYPD 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
on Friday but showing signs of improvement.
"This is such an unbelievable tragedy
that took place; it took away one of our own," said James Huntley, president
of the union that represents traffic agents. "But I'm so thankful to
the city of New York and to the citizens who came to her aid, like real heroes
out of a comic book."
Mourners and neighbourhood residents gathered
outside the hospital on Friday to pray for Sanz and her child.
The 72-year-old van driver, Walter Walker,
pleaded not guilty on Friday to criminally negligent homicide and aggravated
unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. He was being held on $100,000 bail.
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 licence has been suspended
20 times, most recently for failure to pay parking tickets.
Walker said: "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 NYPD for two years, one of the city's blue-uniformed traffic
agents who direct vehicles, write parking tickets and operate tow trucks-without
benefit of guns or bullet-proof vests.
She had been on administrative duty because
of her pregnancy when she went out to lunch and crossed the street, just as
the van ran the light.
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. "I had grease on my hands, but I
did this from my heart."
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 on Friday
but "is basically healthy," Winters said.
At the hospital, 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."