money 'Heroic': Police, bystanders rescue baby trapped under car that drove through storefront
YONKERS, N.Y. — Police and bystanders rushed to lift a car off a baby who was trapped Friday when a driver smashed through a storefront, injuring a woman and her 8-month-old daughter.
The crash and rescue were recorded on video released by police. In it, a group of people and two officers can be seen trying to lift the car inside a barbershop covered in broken glass.
Police say David Poncurak, 43, of Yonkers, was driving a Hyundai Elantra when he struck a curb and parked car before driving into the woman as she crossed the street with a child in her arms. With the woman and child on the hood of the car, it accelerated through the storefront of a barber shop.
Two Yonkers police officers who were getting breakfast at a bagel shop next door ran to investigate.
The baby was trapped under the car. The officers, with the help of bystanders, lifted the car off the baby.
“Luckily, two veteran officers of Yonkers’ finest just happened to be getting breakfast next door and quickly took action along with members of the community to rescue a child trapped under the vehicle and render aid to her mother,” Police Commissioner John Mueller said in a news release. “The actions taken are nothing short of heroic.”
The mother suffered a fractured femur and the baby suffered a skull fracture and third-degree burns on her back and foot, police said. They were taken to a local trauma center, police said, and are expected to survive their injuries. The owner of the barber shop suffered a minor cut.
The driver and a female passenger who was also detained at the scene were not injured. After an investigation, Poncurak was charged with second-degree vehicular assault, a felony, and driving while intoxicated and second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, both misdemeanors.
Contributing: The Associated Press.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Baby trapped under car in Yonkers rescued by police, bystanders
