Bystanders, police rescue baby trapped under alleged drunk driver’s car

Video released by the Yonkers Police Department shows officers and bystanders freeing a baby stuck under a car after an alleged drunk driver drove through a barbershop and struck the infant’s mother.

Footage from the incident on Friday shows a black sedan swiping several cars parked on the street before driving straight into the shop’s store front. (Warning: The footage contains graphic scenes.)

The video then moves inside the barbershop covered in shattered glass and debris, where people can be seen rushing to lift the car up. Police officers and a group of bystanders are seen gathering around the vehicle, the driver appearing to still be inside.

Once the car is lifted, the man filming the incident is able to pull the crying infant out from under the car by her arm. At least one person is seen bleeding from a cut on their arm in the video.

Police said the mother and infant are currently still hospitalized, but are “doing extremely well,” NBC News reports. The mother has a compound leg fracture and her eight-month-old baby has a fractured skull.

The driver, David Poncurak of Yonkers, was arrested for driving while intoxicated, NBC reports, and is also facing charges of second degree vehicular assault. Poncurak did not have a license to drive, according to authorities. Alcoholic beverages were reportedly found in the car and Poncurak also had a passenger who was uninjured.

Appearing on CNN, the two officers who were at the scene, Officers Rocco Fusco and Paul Samoyedny, said they were having breakfast when the incident occurred.

“We almost felt the building vibrate a little bit and then when we went in, we saw the car through the store front. And then we were being advised that there was a woman in front of the car and then later on somebody was saying there was a baby with her and they didn’t know where the baby was,” Samoyedny, a father to four children himself, said.

“You just…have to do something. We weren’t going to be able to move the car off of the baby. So, the only way to get her out was to try to lift it up.”

Two police officers and bystanders saved a baby and her mother, who were trapped underneath a car after the driver hit them pic.twitter.com/vgzEHDvEPk

— New Day (@NewDay) July 26, 2021

According to the officer, although the infant could be heard screaming on body cam footage, they were unable to hear the cries in the midst of the chaos.

Fusco said, “You really don’t think about it. You just kinda, gotta have to do something. We weren’t gonna be able to move the car off of the baby so the only way to get her out was to try and lift it up.”