Horrific video footage captured both a grisly car crash and the heart-pounding aftermath that followed when a mother and her infant were plowed down in a spine-chilling accident. “We got a baby under the vehicle!” desperate first responders declared. The footage should serve as a valuable lesson, but it’s extremely difficult to watch.
Officer Rocco Fusco and Officer Paul Samoyedy with the Yonkers Police Department were grabbing breakfast at a bagel shop in Yonkers, New York, when a car came barreling through the barbershop next door, according to The Blaze. After hearing the frightening crash, the two police officers leaped into action, but nothing could have prepared them for what they were about to find.
After arriving on the scene, the two police officers quickly realized that the vehicle had struck a 36-year-old woman and her 8-month-old infant as they were crossing the street. Surveillance camera footage captured the grisly crash, which showed the car speeding around the corner, losing control, hitting multiple parked cars, and slamming into the mother and child before barreling into the barbershop.
As seen in the footage, the mother and her baby flew up onto the hood of the vehicle just before it slammed into a barbershop storefront and the pair were dragged by the out-of-control car during the crash after the driver swerved toward them and struck the two. Sadly, the infant, who was being carried by the mom as they crossed the street, had become trapped under the vehicle when it came to a stop in the shop.
“We got a baby under the vehicle!” a person is heard shouting in chaotic footage captured by the body cameras from the two officers as a child is heard crying and a woman screams with the car in the middle of the barbershop and broken glass everywhere. The body camera video then shows Officer Rocco Fusco and bystanders attempting to lift the car off of the pinned infant.
“Somebody’s gotta pull the baby,” a person is heard yelling in the heart-pounding video. “Grab the baby, grab the baby!” another can be heard shouting.
Thankfully, as Officer Rocco Fusco lifted the vehicle with the help of bystanders, Officer Paul Samoyedy — a 15-year veteran of the force — is seen pulling the 8-month-old from underneath the vehicle in a dramatic rescue. “I got, I got it, I got the baby,” he is heard saying in the suspenseful footage.
Although the mother suffered a compound fracture to one of her legs and the infant was left with a fractured skull, both were expected to recover and were “doing extremely well” just two days after the accident, NBC News reported. The hero police officers and bystanders have since been credited with saving the mom and her baby’s life, but Officer Fusco didn’t seem to want all the credit. Instead, he pointed to the strength of the mother and child, saying it was a miracle that they survived.
“It’s honestly a miracle that both of them survived — very strong mom and an even stronger little infant,” Officer Fusco told ABC News 7.
As for the driver of the car — who was later identified as 43-year-old David Poncurack — he “did get out and immediately went over to see if the woman was okay,” Samoyedy said. Police said they found an alcoholic beverage in the car driven by the suspect and he was not licensed. Poncurack was arrested at the scene and charged with driving while intoxicated. He was also hit with charges of second-degree vehicular assault. There was a woman in the car with him, who was uninjured.
There’s a pretty simple lesson to be learned here; namely, don’t drive while under the influence. According to Fox 5, the vehicle didn’t come to a halt until it was so far inside the building that it wasn’t visible from a helicopter until crews extracted the vehicle from the premises, showing just how dangerously impaired the driver must have been. Indeed, it’s a miracle no one died. So, the next time someone even considers driving while intoxicated, I hope this footage plays in their head and makes them reconsider. It’s not worth it.
