A nanny has risked her life to save a baby who was in her care after it was almost hit by a car.
Loretta Penn, 62, was pushing the pram with a nine-month-old baby boy inside it when a car turned the corner and didn’t see them crossing the road. She quickly pushed the pram out of the way and was struck.
“Witnesses said that she was crossing the crosswalk, the operator of the vehicle never saw her, and as she saw the car was going to strike her, she pushed the stroller out of harm’s way,” Rockville Centre Police Commissioner Charles Gennario told 1010 WINS.
“She knew she was going to get struck by the vehicle and had the wherewithal to protect the baby.”
She was pinned under the car until onlookers came and lifted up the car to help her.
“She was purple, not breathing,” Gennario said. “Police officers with the assistance of some bystanders lifted the car off of the victim and she was able to start breathing again.”
She has rightfully been hailed a hero.
The little boy was unharmed. His mother Twah Dougherty said how saddened she was that Loretta, their family nanny, was injured, but that she wasn’t surprised that she had saved her child.
“She’s practically family to us. She was in and out of consciousness, and her one concern that she asked was if the baby was OK,” she told CBS2.
Loretta was in a critical condition late Friday, and remained in a medically induced coma.
Watch: Nanny saves child from oncoming car
