| [img]http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/250-nanny.JPG[/img] | | [size=-1]**Brave nanny who helped save tiny Isabelle Avins. **[/size] | |
| A wild-eyed, deranged man **plunged a knife into the stomach of a 10-month-old girl **as her nanny pushed her in a stroller in Washington Heights yesterday, cops and witnesses said. The brave 20-year-old nanny lifted tiny Isabelle Avins from the stroller, ran to a livery cab and carried the wounded infant into nearby Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center moments after the sickening, seemingly random attack. Isabelle was in critical but stable condition last night.
"The baby-sitter saved her life," said the baby's grateful father, Jonathan Avins, 43, a corporate lawyer. "She's not to blame. She's like a member of the family." Avins said his wife, Sarah, was understandably upset.
"My wife is as you can expect her to be," he said.
The alleged attacker - identified by sources as 48-year-old Bernard Derr - pounced on the baby at W. 171st St. and Fort Washington Ave. about 5 p.m. Sources said Derr confessed to the crime. A doctor was called in to evaluate him, they said.
Isabelle and her nanny were walking with another baby-sitter and baby when the bearded and bespectacled madman - who lives nearby in housing for the mentally ill - came out of nowhere, witnesses said.
"He came up running with the knife and started stabbing the baby," said Dr. Debra Kolodner, whose 4-month-old daughter, Emily, was being pushed alongside Isabelle.
"He was brutally stabbing the baby," added a stunned Kolodner after speaking to her nanny last night. "It was horrible."
Witnesses said Isabelle's baby-sitter let out a chilling cry when she realized what had happened.
"I've never seen anyone scream so much," said Albert Ruiz, 40, a local handyman. "I wish I could find that guy myself."
Carolina Guichardo, who lives nearby, said: "I saw the nanny holding the kid in her arms. . . . There was blood. The nanny was screaming, and then she started running."
As Isabelle's baby-sitter sped off carrying the bleeding girl, bystanders, including an unidentified man in a minivan, tried to grab the suspect, who was wearing a bright lime-green T-shirt, witnesses said.
"When I came out, everyone was screaming," said Jose Yern, 44. "Everyone was running around trying to find this guy."
** But Derr fought his way through the outraged witnesses, fled across the street and ducked into an apartment, which neighbors said is provided by a treatment center for people with mental illnesses.**
Cops raced to the chaotic scene within minutes and nabbed Derr inside his fourth-floor apartment.** A 6-inch knife was recovered in an adjacent alley, police sources said.**
"He had a wild look to him," Guichardo said. "I backed out of his way. He seemed scary."
Neighbors of the Avinses, who live nearby, described the family as close-knit and helpful.
"I was playing with the baby earlier today. The baby's always smiling. She's a happy-go-lucky child," said Mario Shelly, 52, who does maintenance work for the family at their three-story townhouse. "I can't imagine what they're going through.
Added neighbor Scott DeCola, 27: "God bless them. The neighborhood loves them."
Jon Avins earned his law degree from Georgetown University and had previously worked as a World Bank economist, focusing on the Middle East.
After questioning Derr at the 33rd Precinct stationhouse last night, cops charged him with attempted murder, first-degree assault, criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child.
"It looks at this point like he doesn't know these people," a police source said. Local residents said the treatment center is run by Federation Employment and Guidance Service.
** Although the housing program is licensed by the state Office of Mental Health, neighbors said it is a trouble spot in the otherwise safe neighborhood just north of Columbia Presbyterian.**
"It's terrible. Who stabs a baby?" said Guichardo, the mother of an infant.
The attack follows a spate of violence against children across the city. **Five kids have been hit by gunfire in less than three weeks.**
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