Kids Safety Network

Viral: Car Plows Through Stop Sign Toward 2-Year-Old, Nanny Knows It’s Either Her or Toddler

Hayley Malan

…made a quick-thinking decision.

Viral: Car Plows Through Stop Sign Toward 2-Year-Old, Nanny Knows It’s Either Her or Toddler

The fierce protectiveness a parent feels over their own child is instinctual and tenacious. When 2-year-old Fox was in the line of great danger, he didn’t have his parents there to protect him.

He did have his nanny, Caroline Maurer, with him, however. Though nobody can replicate the exact bond between parents and their children, Maurer and Fox shared an incredibly strong bond that grew even stronger after the dangerous incident.

Before Fox was introduced to solid food, he was introduced to Maurer as his nanny. Courtney Davis was a first-time mother to Fox and found Maurer’s presence in their lives to be exactly what they needed.

On March 28, that only became more evident. Maurer strapped Fox into the stroller and took him for a morning walk in the neighborhood.

They began crossing the street that had four-way stop signs. No cars were at the stops, so it appeared safe to cross.

Suddenly, a car plowed through the stop sign without any warning. Unfortunately, the car made a left turn, meaning it was heading toward the nanny and 2-year-old child.

Maurer knew it would either be Fox or herself that was going to get hit. The stroller with Fox sitting inside was in the direct line of impact, so Maurer made a quick-thinking decision.
She pushed the stroller as hard as she could away from herself and the oncoming car. Maurer yelled at the driver to stop as she defensively held up her hands to protect herself.

The car hit Maurer, resulting in fractures of arm, hand, and wrists. She also experienced the trauma of hearing the toddler’s innocent cries, but wasn’t able to comfort him; he was strapped into his stroller while she was stuck injured on the ground.

She told KCBS, “He was screaming Nanny Caroline I love you which was breaking my heart because I couldn’t hold him.” Of course, Fox’s parents love their Nanny Caroline, too.
Bill Wolkoff, Fox’s dad, told KTLA, “I think my first reaction was: She’s family for the rest of our lives.” A YouCaring page designed to raise money for Maurer’s medical expenses was opened by Wolkoff and Davis.

Maurer wrote on Facebook in response to the YouCaring page, “Publicly reliving this leaves me grateful, tearful, loved, and anxious regarding my own worthiness in this crazy world brimming with need. I am happiest to see Fox, still whole – still perfect.”

Fox amazingly left the scene with minor scrapes, but Maurer’s life has been permanently changed; she doesn’t know if she will ever regain full use of her hands. Though she isn’t Fox’s mother, she showed the fierce protectiveness of one as she chose to place the toddler’s life before her own.

This weekend, two words had become a battle cry against sexual harassment

Viral: Women Flood Social Media With #MeToo — It’s Time To Say #IBelieveYou

This weekend, two words had become a battle cry against sexual harassment; Me Too. The hashtag went wildly viral last night, as women took to social media platforms to declare that they, too, did have experienced sexual harassment or abuse.

The powerful words were used by actress Alyssa Milano to inspire women to reveal just how many of us have dealt with harassment and abuse. She shared the #MeToo message on Twitter where it quickly went viral — but the movement was initially started 10 years ago by activist Tarana Burke, who started a “grassroots movement to aid sexual assault survivors in underprivileged communities ‘where rape crisis centers and sexual assault workers weren’t going.’”

Thousands of people, mostly women, began replying.

On Facebook, the same status began to circulate:

Me, too.
If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote “Me too.” as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem. Please copy and paste. #MeToo

One after the other I saw my female friends’ statuses change to “Me too”. I had to hold back tears from the feeling of seeing the sheer magnitude of the women I love add their voice to the chorus. But I wasn’t surprised. No woman would be surprised by this. We’ve been dealing with harassment and abuse our whole lives. I couldn’t name a single woman in my life who had never been harassed. Not even a SINGLE ONE.

At the same moment I realized how many of my female friends were rising up to add their voices to this movement, it became disturbingly clear how many men were staying silent.
Your silence is deafening.

This is not to say men haven’t shared stories of harassment as well — they have. But we can’t ignore the fact that harassment and sexual violence is something that disproportionately affects women. And since this is all coming to light because of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, it’s important to note that women are far more likely to suffer workplace harassment than men. According to the National Council for Research on Women, women are nine times more likely than men to quit their jobs, five times more likely to transfer, and three times more likely to lose jobs due to harassment.

And when it comes to sexual violence — one out of six women would experience an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. And 90% of adult rape victims were female.
When the horrific stories of Weinstein’s assaults began to make news last week, there was a chorus of “Why didn’t the women speak up sooner?” But they did speak up. They told loved ones and friends and people they trusted. And they are speaking up now — and naming names and the weight of all of this shouldn’t even be on their shoulders.

I was sitting on the train last week in front of two businessmen traveling out of New York City to my Hudson Valley home. One of the men was watching a show on Netflix, and commented, horrified, “My god. They just killed a little girl on this show.” His friend laughed, and replied, “The bitch probably had it coming. She probably didn’t put out.” His friend chuckled uncomfortably.

He was talking about a child.

I felt my ears get hot, and my blood pressure rise. I was disgusted by a man who would even think to utter a statement like that, but almost more disgusted by his co-worker who, obviously uncomfortable, said nothing. This is the type of enabling that breeds a toxic male workplace. And if you’re not a fucking Neanderthal, it’s time to start calling this behavior out.

We need you, men. We need your voices. Women would be far more inclined to come forward if their environment wasn’t bathed in toxic masculinity. Men would be far less likely to methodically commit workplace harassment if the men surrounding them didn’t stand for it.

See, it’s not that hard. Add your voices, men.

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