A nanny is speaking out about the moment she risked her life to save two children she cares for when a hit-and-run driver plowed down a sidewalk in D.C.'s Mount Pleasant neighborhood.
Marina Fuentes was caring for two children, ages 2 and 7, when a suspect driving a stolen car jumped the curb and sped down the sidewalk on 18th Street NW on Sept. 15.
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Fuentes put herself in harm's way to shield the children.
"I got in front of the little girl, and I hear a bump in the back," she told News4 in a phone interview from her hospital bed.
Although Fuentes was in pain with broken bones, her focus was on the kids.
"I look down and got the stroller with baby and wrapped it with my hands, with my arms to my chest," she said.
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The children were not seriously hurt.
After undergoing one operation, with potentially more on the way, it's unclear when Fuentes will be able to go back to work.
"I feel like my life is ended. I feel I’m not going to have the same quality of life after this," Fuentes said.
"She loves the kids she takes care of, and we all know it," said Claire Keller, who has organized a GoFundMe campaign for Fuentes.
Keller said it was no surprise that Fuentes would place herself between the car and the children.
"She is extremely protective of the kids in her care," Keller said.
And Keller would know. When she was a little girl, Fuentes was her nanny.
"She was basically my third parent. I felt like it was my responsibility to take care of her the way anyone would someone they're that close to is injured."
Police say the suspect tried to steal the running car from Denis Miranda, a food delivery driver.
Miranda was also struck while trying to stop the suspect and has serious injuries.
A GoFundMe page was created to help support Miranda's expenses in the weeks and months ahead.
Police have released video of the suspect who ran from the scene after the crash, but no arrests have been made.
