Aug 23, 2008 12:16 pm US/Eastern
Driver Pleads Not Guilty In Miracle Baby Tragedy
Sean Michael Justin Sanz Delivered After Mother Was Killed In Accident
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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A pregnant NYC traffic agent was killed on Aug. 14 after being struck by a school bus and a van. Her baby, however, was saved.
CBS
The miracle baby born just hours after his mother was struck killed by a van last week, has died. The van's driver, Walter Walker, pleaded not guilty to criminally negligent homicide. A grand jury will decide what other charges he'll face.
Sean Michael Justin Sanz was delivered via emergency c-section on Aug. 14 after his mother, a city traffic enforcement officer, died from injuries suffered in a traffic accident.
Doctors and the boy's family had hoped the infant could survive, but on Friday he was taken off life support.
"It is a shock. It's very shocking because he was our miracle baby. We didn't expect [this], we were hoping that the baby would survive," the infant's aunt told CBS 2. "But right now he's in heaven with his mother and they will be buried together."
Last Thursday afternoon, several good Samaritans ran onto E. 188th Street and Webster Avenue in the Fordham section of the Bronx, trying to pull baby Sean's mother, Donnette Sanz, out from under a school bus.
The city traffic agent was seven months pregnant with her son, when 72-year-old Walter Walker slammed into her with his van, throwing Donnette's body into the path of an oncoming school bus.
Sanz's husband, Rafael, had harsh words for the Walker, who took away the life of his wife and now his baby.
"I hope he really does rot in hell," he told CBS 2. "I hope he dies a horrible death."
On Friday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg released a statement regarding the tragedy:
"Our hearts and prayers go out to the child's father, Rafael Sanz, and to all those who loved Donnette and her son. Their already heavy burden of grief has been terribly compounded.
"From the moment last Thursday when Donnette was struck down, scores of New Yorkers pulled together as one to try to save her and her still-unborn child. The bystanders who heroically rescued Donnette from under a school bus in the Bronx didn't just lift five tons of glass and steel; they also lifted the spirits of our entire city. The team at St. Barnabas Hospital who performed Sean Michael's emergency delivery and the staff at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center who then labored to save his life deserve our grateful thanks as well.
"This tragedy has affected the whole City, and we will long remember the service Donnette gave to New York and the inspiration that Sean Michael's short live gave all of us."
Police commissioner Ray Kelly also issued a statement:
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of Sean Michael Sanz so soon after his mother Donnette, whose service to the City of New York and the Police Department will never be forgotten. Our hearts and prayers are with their family."
Police arrested Walker after it was learned he was driving with a suspended license. Walker told police he couldn't avoid hitting the woman because the van's brakes failed.
The Sanz family is preparing for a funeral, where they plan to bury Donnette Sanz and her baby boy together.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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