An 8-month-old baby girl in a stroller was killed Tuesday when an out-of-control bus driver who police said was on the phone slammed into several cars and two light poles, causing one to fall onto the child.
The mother of the baby was pushing the stroller on the sidewalk along East Boulevard in West New York, N.J. when it was hit.
Witnesses described chaos after the crash.
"Traffic stopped, people running to the bus," said Johanner Romero.
Police officer Michael Stetson gave CPR to the injured child, Angela Paredes, but it was too late.
"He tried so hard, so hard to save this little baby's life," said an onlooker.
Stetson told NBC 4 New York it was difficult to lose the little girl after trying to save her.
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"It is hard, but it is part of the job," he said. "Things we have to deal with. It's what we are here for."
The bus driver, identified by the sheriff's office as 48-year-old Idowu Daramola of Thornwood, N.Y., was arrested on charges of reckless driving, using a cell phone while operating a vehicle and death by auto.
"We don't know if he was texting or talking," said Hudson County Sheriff Frank Schillari. "This is what distracted him, we feel. And he lost control of the bus."
Schillari said there are two open warrants for Daramola's arrest related to bus driving offenses. The sheriff did not detail what the warrants entailed but said his current employer would have been notified. Investigators have been unable to get in touch with the bus company, he said.
Attorney information for Daramola wasn't immediately available. He's being held at the Hudson County Jail on $250,000 cash bail.
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