Nanny's Death Investigated, Questioned

Long Island police continue to investigate the death of a nanny who jumped into pool to save one of her charges in Syosset, Nassau County. Ana Maria Montano de Gimenez could not swim and appeared to die of a heart attack; her employer, Rubian Saunders, had heard her screams but could only manage to pull out her 3-year-old son, who was revived and is being monitored at a hospital. Still, Gimenez's family and friends want answers. Yesterday, an 8-year-old boy drowned in a relative's pool in Queens; the American Academy of Pediatrics has a list of pool safety tips for children.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Dave Hogarty in News on July 5, 2008 2:50 PM

Comments [rss]

Spirit of 76

And some people don't know when jokes are inappropriate. Typically disgusting comments on Gothamist. Play down the nanny's heroic self-sacrifice and instead claim that she was ignored and then her drowning covered up. Oliver Stone would have been proud.

Spirit of 76

Why can't it have happened? Would they have even known that anyone else was still in the pool? You need to keep an open mind and think of other possibilities. Yesterday, when I proposed that the nanny might have succumbed to a heart attack, commenters here were so sure that could not be the case. Yet it says so above.

MissMeowy

Yes, fishy fishy. I noticed that too - that in the original story, it implies that the mother plus the rescue people who arrived on the scene worked on reviving the little boy before they even bothered with the nanny. That can't be what happened though. Can it? O_o

Dave Hogarty

I think the fishy smell might be related to the fact that the mother saw her son and her nanny drowning in her pool. The mother pulled her son out and may have left the nanny to drown as she tried to revive her child.

That sounds cold, but I can't second guess what any parent would do in a similar situation. When EMS people responded, the kid was in his mother's arms and not breathing. She was likely totally distraught with grief and panic. It sounds like a bad situation all around for all the families.