A South Jersey nurse who helped save a woman’s life after an accident in New York City is speaking out for the first time about what she saw.
Amy Buttaro, a registered nurse from Haddonfield, NJ, was visiting midtown Manhattan with her daughter on Tuesday. As they were walking, a cab was traveling uptown on Sixth Avenue when it swerved, apparently to avoid a bicyclist, and struck a 23-year-old British woman who was crossing at 49th Street.
“There had to be tons of people that were hurt,” Buttaro said. “My first instinct was that I had to help. So I ran across the street.”
The woman was on the street, bleeding heavily with a severed leg below her knee and injuries to her other leg.
“One girl jumped down, got into the girl’s face and said, ‘Stay with me, I’m not gonna leave you!’” Buttaro said.
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A plumber working nearby applied a tourniquet on her leg. Buttaro says she ran towards the girl and held the tourniquet down.
“There were 50 people in the area,” Buttaro said. “It was shocking that no more people were hurt.”
Buttaro stayed with the woman until medics arrived and took her to the hospital. Buttaro and her daughter then left the area without telling anyone who they were. Now that her efforts have been made public, Buttaro insists that she’s not a hero.
“I did what my heart told me to do,” she said. “It could have been my child.”
Copyright AP - Associated Press
