Model City Worker Gets a Hero’s Goodbye, Her Baby in Her Arms

James Estrin/The New York Times
A ceremonial flag was presented to Rafael Sanz at the funeral of his wife, Donnette Sanz, 33, and his infant son, Sean Michael Justin Sanz.

Model City Worker Gets a Hero’s Goodbye, Her Baby in Her Arms
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Published: August 26, 2008
They are not typically eulogized with the same pomp and ceremony given to fallen police officers and firefighters. But on Monday, about 1,000 of the city’s 2,600 traffic agents turned out to honor a colleague, Donnette Sanz, and her infant son, who were mowed down in the Bronx 11 days ago.

Mourners filled the Community Protestant Church on East Gun Hill Road in the Baychester section of the Bronx and lined the streets outside, closing ranks with a woman they said exemplified the unheralded hazards and heroism of a profession that many New Yorkers regard with contempt.

“Anyone who ever witnessed the reaction of a New Yorker who finds a ticket on his car can appreciate just how hard it is for our traffic agents to keep their cool,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said. “But Donnette never had any problems in staying calm.”

Ms. Sanz, a 33-year-old Jamaican immigrant who had donated a kidney in 2004 to save her husband’s life, was run down on a lunch break on Aug. 14 at Webster Avenue and 188th Street. The police say she was struck by a van driven by a 72-year-old man with 21 suspensions and 3 revocations on his license.

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Donnette Sanz's infant son dies in hospital

Baby of pregnant woman hit by runaway van dies
Story Highlights
Baby born by Caesarean section after mom died in accident

Mother was a New York traffic agent

Baby's dad: "She never got to see our baby, but she was in love with him"

NEW YORK (AP) -- An infant boy delivered prematurely after his traffic agent mother was struck by a van and pinned under a bus has died, authorities said Friday.

Sean Michael Justin Sanz had been in intensive care since he was delivered by Caesarean section shortly after a runaway van hit his mother August 14. He weighed 3 pounds, 6 ounces at birth.

His mother, traffic agent Donnette Sanz, survived the delivery but died about an hour later in an emergency operating room. She was seven months pregnant.

The van, driven by a 72-year-old man with what authorities say is a long history of driving offenses, hit Sanz when she was crossing a Bronx street on her lunch break. The impact sent her flying into the path of a yellow school bus, which ran her over.

About 30 bystanders helped hoist the 5-ton bus from her body in a rescue that made the front pages of the city's tabloid newspapers.

"He meant everything to me," Rafael Sanz said of his tiny son. "He died in my arms."

Sanz had harsh words for the van's driver, Walter Walker: "I hope he really does rot in hell. I hope he dies a horrible death."

In an interview with the Daily News published hours before the infant's death, Rafael Sanz spoke about how his deep love for his son was mingled with grief over his wife's death. He said she had donated a kidney to him shortly before their wedding four years ago.
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/22/pregnant.agent.runover.ap/index.html

Kansas:Ex-soldier deals with post military problems

Ex-soldier deals with post military problems
by Mike Belt

Wednesday, 20 August 2008

The Army was going to be a second career for Gary Connellis.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., he followed his father’s footsteps and joined the New York City Police Department. He spent 17 years there.

Connellis, 39, who now lives in Leavenworth, lost some friends in the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. Despite his desire to join the Army immediately, his wife was about to have a baby. He waited until his daughter was 5 before enlisting.

“It took a lot of running and getting back into shape,” Connellis said.

His Army career turned out to be a short one though, the aftermath of which he will be dealing with the rest of his life.

While on special assignment in 2006, Connellis was wounded by a roadside bomb. He can’t say what that assignment was or where he was, but he does say he was not in Iraq or Afghanistan.

He joined the Army in 2005. He was honorably discharged with disabilities in July 2007. He has a long list of injuries — physical and mental — stemming from that explosion. After filing for disability payments from the U.S. Deptartment of Veterans Affairs, Connellis was determined to be suffering a 30 percent disability: The lower the percentage the lower his disability payments.

Since he initially filed some of his claims Connellis found information in his Army medical records that he didn’t know about and which were not passed on to the VA. That includes one record showing he had a herniated disk in his lower back. The Army never treated him for that, despite frequent trips to Army doctors about the back pain, he said. He also found out he has asthma, something else the Army never told him about or treated him for, he said.

Connellis has appealed and is seeking a 100 percent disability declaration from the VA. The appeals were filed months ago and he is still awaiting a ruling.

We want to know about people in the military from the Douglas County area. Where are they deployed? When will they be coming back? What are their experiences? If you are currently in the military from this area and want to communicate with us, that’s fine, too. Please send me an e-mail.

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