HOLMDEL, NJ — A quick-thinking nanny is credited with plucking a 2-year-old girl from certain death as a sport utility vehicle bore down on them and the baby's mother as they walked admiring holiday decorations of neighbors' homes Sunday, police said.Mom Ianina Morozova, 42, and nanny Vera Vereschagina, 46, went on the early evening stroll along the side of South Beers Street, with Vereschagina pushing 2-year-old Sasha Kolesnitchenko, Morozova's daughter, in a stroller. As the three headed southbound around 6:20 p.m, to return to Morozova's Chaser Court home, a tan or silver SUV traveling northbound came speeding at them, according to Sgt. Eric Hoffman.
As the vehicle approached at a high rate of speed, Vereschagina reached into the stroller and grabbed the toddler, who was facing forward, and jumped for the nearby lawn of 40 South Beers St., Hoffman explained.
The vehicle kept coming and struck the empty stroller and Morozova, then fled, police said.
"I give her a lot of credit for yanking the kid out and getting out of the way of that vehicle," Hoffman said.
The posted speed limit on South Beers Street is 30 mph, police said. It is unclear how fast the vehicle was traveling.
Morozova suffered injuries to her left side, left hand and a cut to her nose. She and the toddler were taken to Bayshore Community Hospital. The toddler was released after a precautionary evaluation. Morozova is listed as stable, but remains hospitalized, according to hospital spokeswoman Laurie Zalepka.
The investigation is ongoing, and police are asking anyone with information about the case or the vehicle to call Detective Thomas Foley at 732-946-4400
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Special thanks to Jacqui for Contributing this Article.
Wow, glad everyone is okay... Is anyone else wondering how the heck she unstrapped the toddler so fast?
ReplyDeleteThis Nanny is a hero (!)
ReplyDeleteI'd assume she wasn't strapped in. I never feel comfortable NOT strapping my younger charge in (she's 2), but her parents never use the straps anymore.
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome nanny! I'm so glad the little girl is perfectly fine and it sounds like her mom will be okay too.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally not criticizing the nanny, but I'm just wondering how it was faster to get her out and run than to just run while push the stroller since she was already pushing it. I'm just having a hard time picturing this. Maybe there was a curb that would have been hard to maneuver with the stroller?
I don't understand why the nanny didn't warn the mom too. Like she grabbed the child and then shouted "get out of the way!" It was like she was trying to get the mom killed. ooh conspiracy.... she is sleeping with the husband and hires some guy to barrel down the street and kill the mom. I mean this seems a little strange to me
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was just her first instinct, ATL. I live very close to where this happened. I'll drive by and let you know about the curb :-)
ReplyDeletePhoenix,I am assuming you're being facetious. If I am correct, funny :-)
Maybe she was already crouching down in front of the stroller talking to the child or something. Who knows? Whatever her reason for taking the child out of the stroller, it worked.
ReplyDeleteNo I am not being funny. It is very odd. How could the mom get hit full on stil pushing the stroller and this nanny had time to see the truck, assess the danger, come to a solution, act on her solution, grab the kid and move out of the way. This would take at least 10 seconds. All the while the mom was just standing there not seeing any of this happen. And the speed limit is 30 mph and some crazy just decided to run two ladies and a baby down. Were they walking against traffic? Why can no on find a mangled SUV? And wouldn't the nanny have time to at least warn the mom? It was like the nanny was expecting it. I am sorry but this seems very strange to me. I am glad the baby is ok but still the mom should be too.
ReplyDeleteOh come on! You sound a little paranoid. In fact, it sounds so crazy that I thought you were being ironic and pointing out how silly people can be when questioning things on this blog. We know very little details about what actually happened. It was a short police brief.
ReplyDeleteOk, I'm totally not on board with this conspiracy theory. I'm sure the nanny just moved faster than the mom -- either because she saw the SUV first or because she reacted quicker and the mom thought the vehicle would stop. Regardless, I'm definitely not suggeseting any sort of conspiracy.
ReplyDeleteI really only brought up my question about the curb, because I think the reporter dropped the ball by not explaining why the nanny grabbed the child rather than pushing the stroller. I'm sure there is a simple explanation, but it definitely jumped out at me. I was a reporter before I became a nanny, so I can't help but notice those things.
hey that is just my opinion. I am normally a very logical person never even coming up with ideas like this. But for some reason when I read this story that is what popped into my head. My gut instict has never failed me. Not saying that it will always hold true but that was a strange image to get from such a great story. That is why I question it.
ReplyDeleteUnless the mom is mentally challanged and had blinders on I don't see how both of them could have not escaped
Course right now she is considered a hero so I will just go along with the public opinion. YAY! Good nanny!
Phoenix, always trust your gut. I stand by that...to me though, it sounds a little far fetched :-)
ReplyDeleteThe mom may not have seen the SUV because she was looking at the Christmas lights like the article said.
ReplyDeleteIn emergency cases like this, sometimes your reaction time is considerably slowed. I was hit by a car a few years ago and it probably very well could have been avoided because the driver was going slowly and I should have had enough time to jump out of the way. But it was one of those *duh* moments where my brain completely turned off and then the next thing I knew, I was flying four feet in the air and then rolling on the concrete. If the mother in this story even saw the SUV coming, I bet she had a similar reaction.
ReplyDeleteThe only part of the story I thought was really odd was why the nanny pulled the baby out of the stroller instead of just pushing it, like ATL said. But then, there were very few details here so we can probably chalk it up to shoddy reporting.
PS: I should probably add that, no I'm not mentally challenged (to my knowledge) but I wasn't wearing my glasses so maybe I did have "blinders" on. Just thought I'd throw that in there before you ask, Phoenix. :)
ReplyDelete