Arcellie Muschamp Brooklyn nanny hailed hero after sacrificing life saving toddler from oncoming truck as she dies 11 days after being struck.
A 52-year-old Brooklyn nanny sacrificed her life after she pushed a stroller carrying a one-year-old boy out of harm’s way before an oncoming truck struck her.
Arcellie ‘Celi’ Muschamp died December 31 after being hit December 20 in the Park Slope neighborhood, the baby’s father said.
Muschamp was able to get the stroller out of the vehicle’s path, but she was unable to get out of the way herself, the parents of the child wrote in a note according to a medical fundraiser for the nanny.
‘Our son Rowan was amazingly unscathed in the incident and based on eyewitness accounts Celi helped save him from almost-certain serious injury or death by pushing his stroller out of harm’s way as the vehicle approached,’ Patrick Mullen wrote.
‘The doctors have called it a miracle and Celi is truly our hero.’
She came to live the American dream
Muschamp, originally from Belize, and who had emigrated to the U.S in the 1990’s, was struck at Union Street and Fifth Avenue and went into an induced coma shortly after the crash.
It’s not clear whether she was passing through one of the intersection’s marked cross walks, or if the truck driver faces charges. Witnesses told of the oncoming vehicle — a 2011 Dodge Ram pickup truck — seemingly speeding according to the UK’s Independent.
The operator of the vehicle that struck Muschamp has not been identified by name. Authorities told PEOPLE he was a 68-year-old man, and he remained on the scene after the crash.
No charges have been filed against the driver at this time.
The married mother died surrounded by loved ones 11 days after being injured, Mullen said.
‘My wife and I will forever consider her the guardian angel of our son Rowan, whom she saved through her actions and sacrifice,’ he said. ‘Our thoughts remain with her family and children during this time. Bless her soul.’
Her daughter, Rahzel Muschamp, described her as ‘the most selfless person ever’ and someone who adored looking after children.
‘I had a chance to look at her cellphone recently and I looked at her pictures and 60% of them were of the child she was caring for,’ she told the nydailynews. ‘That shows she loved these kids so much.’
The nanny died less than two months after her mother’s November 11 death. Her sister was among those to mourn the loss online.
‘I will forever love you…’
‘[I’m] sitting down here just thinking about the beautiful relationship I had with my beautiful Sister,’ Yolz Aleman posted on Facebook. ‘We would just talk and laugh giving each other jokes telling me about her kids and how much she love me and will always be here for me.
‘…I will forever love you sleep in perfect peace little Sister our Hero till we meet again.’
A GoFundMe for her family raised more than $81,200 as of Monday morning.
Authorities continue to investigate the cause of crash that killed the babysitter.
