TORONTO, ON - May 3 Lakeshore Blvd east in the Logan and Carlow area is continually packed with stop and go traffic on a rainy Wednesday. There's rage percolating in East end Toronto. The Gardiner ramp was torn down, Lakeshore is a mess, expropriations for the Ontario Line is causing grief, as is the other construciton, and the streetcar has never been a good option - and many of the politicians are MIA. May 3 2023 (Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
After saving a baby from a potentially life-threatening situation, Ron Nessman is being called a hero on social media. Surveillance footage shows when Nessman stopped a rolling stroller from entering moving traffic. A few steps away, the child’s caretaker struggled to recover from a fall.
Nessman spoke to NBCLA about the bystander-turned-hero moment.
“I knew I could get it, and I got it, and I’m thankful for that because I really wouldn’t want to see the end result if I wasn’t there,” Ron said.”
The child was reportedly traveling with his great-aunt and sitting in the stroller as his caretaker reached into the back seat. They were stationed in the parking lot of a carwash off Bear Valley Road. Suddenly, the stroller–assisted by the wind and unlocked brakes– started rolling away from the opened driver and passenger doors and towards the traffic.
When the great-aunt realized the stroller was moving, she attempted to spring into action. But she fell hard on the pavement and collapsed again on her second attempt to stand.
Ron Nessman’s sister, Donna Gunderson, was sitting on a patio near the car wash parking on the day of the incident. She reportedly heard the great-aunt’s cries before seeing her brother grab the stroller seconds before it entered the busy road.
While talking to NBCLA, Donna said her “heart dropped” when she saw the stroller headed into the road where people travel at speeds of 50 to 55. One piece of advice she added was that caretakers can prevent such situations by simply “hitting the brake.”
Meanwhile, for Ron, the heroic act was all instant. He had arrived at the scene just on time–coming from an Applebee’s job interview. The bystander-turned-hero reportedly lives with his sister Donna after experiencing homelessness for the last eight years, driven by depression and death.
While Nessman is thankful he was there to stop the stroller, he also does not blame the great-aunt.
“She tried everything she possibly could to get up. Her knees were bleeding when I got up to her. She was still shocked and she was crying.”
