Wednesday night. A screech of brakes, a thud, and then a young woman screaming. A yellow cab had struck her baby stroller in the crosswalk. A small boy, maybe three or four years old, naked other than for a diaper, was thrown over a hundred feet or so along Amsterdam Avenue to end up lying motionless in the gutter immediately below our living room window. Within ninety seconds, thanks to dozens of cell phone calls, three police cars and two ambulances had arrived. After about five minutes the paramedics revived the child whose cries were chilling but reassuring (although he did not appear to be able to move). Ten minutes later the vehicles sped off with sirens howling, leaving us and the assembled group of bystanders below wondering how tragedies like this come about.
