A baby girl delivered prematurely is on life support after her 7-months-pregnant mom was struck by a drunken firefighter while crossing the street in the Bronx this week. Off-duty FDNY Lieutenant Sean Farrell, 39, struck Mantaz Begum, 42, as the pregnant mom and a friend crossed Westchester Avenue near White Plains Road on her way home around 6 p.m. Thursday. "Yes, I was driving. I was just making a turn on Westchester [Avenue], and all of a sudden, boom! I hit those ladies," Farrell told cops afterwards.
Farrell, who was previously arrested for drunk driving in 2010, allegedly admitted to cops that he had drunk two beers before driving. The Post reports that he was “unsteady on his feet, incoherent, and had bloodshot and watery eyes” when he was arrested. He refused to take a Breathalyzer after the incident, and has been charged with DWI; he also has been suspended for 30 days without pay by the FDNY.
Begum had an emergency C-section at Jacobi Medical Center, and was delivered successfully two months early; the baby girl is on a ventilator because her lungs aren’t fully developed. Her big sister Mousumi Akhter, 17, picked out the name Mahzabin (which means "power") for her: "I was searching on the Internet for an Islamic girl name. I wanted it to be a powerful name because something bad happened to her but she survived,” she told the Post. "I want her to get healthier and stronger. I know in my heart that she is going to be OK."
