‘Heroic’ nanny risks her life to save baby

A nanny from Baldwin “sacrificed herself” to prevent the 5-month-old boy she was caring for from being struck by an SUV in Rockville Centre on March 31, according to village police.

The nanny, a 62-year-old woman whom police did not identify, was crossing Village Avenue, from west to east, at 2:48 p.m. last Thursday, pushing the infant in a stroller, when an SUV, headed southwest on Hempstead Avenue, made a left turn onto Village Avenue, directly into their path. The nanny saw the vehicle coming and pushed the stroller out of the way, but was struck by the SUV.

“I asked a couple of the bystanders, and they said she definitely pushed the baby out of the way to save it and sacrificed herself,” said Lt. James Vafeades of the Rockville Centre Police Department.

The woman was taken to South Nassau Communities Hospital with serious injuries. On Friday she had been stabilized and was in a medically induced coma, but as of press time on Monday her condition had not been updated.

Vafeades said the police had not charged the driver, a 72-year-old Rockville Centre woman. The charge, he explained, would have been failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, which is a ticketable offense, but only if an officer sees it occur. The infant, who is from Rockville Centre, was unharmed.

“It was heroic to sacrifice herself,” Vafeades said of the nanny.