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Infant Survives After Being Hit By Car And Sailing Through The Air

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Spectators in the courtroom gasp as a mother struggles through her harrowing testimony. The woman's infant was struck by a car and nearly killed by a 34-year-old Montgomery County man allegedly driving under the influence -- again.

Demea Trindle says she and her boyfriend and three children were crossing Aramingo at West Moreland when a car ran the red light, hit the baby carriage with her six-week-old daughter inside, ripped the stroller out of her hands and sent it flying 15 feet into the intersection, into the path of other cars.

Joseph Mieciecki, the child's father, was there.

"By the time I turned around, he was only five, 10 feet away, so I tried to scoot them backward, but it was too late, the stroller got hit," he says. "She went flying into the oncoming traffic."

Little Gabriella suffered a fractured skull and other injuries, but was with her mother yesterday, looking happy, smiling. "It was scary, really scary," Trindle says.

Reporter: "But now she is healthy?"

Trindle: "No, she still has a fractured skull. She won't heal probably until about 6 or 7 months."

Prosecutor Jill Fertel says defendant Robert Thomas was high on methadone and was driving without a license, it had been suspended. He has four prior DUI convictions. He's in custody.

Reported by Tony Hanson, KYW Newsradio 1060

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