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Jeep-stealing jerk almost mows down boy and nanny

Police responded to the scene of crash on E. 13th St. last Thursday. Photo by Jefferson Siegel

BY ALBERT AMATEAU and JEFFERSON SIEGEL  |  A man who stole his girlfriend’s Jeep Cherokee on E. 14th St. at Second Ave. around 5 p.m. Thurs., July 12, drove it wildly west in what could have resulted in a serious accident. He almost hit several pedestrians, ran a red light at Fifth Ave., hit a van, jumped the curb and hit a traffic light at Fifth Ave. at 13th St., knocking it down, police said.

The crazed driver, clad only in jeans and no shoes, fled from the wreck, down to 11th St., and ran west. He hopped the wall around the small cemetery near Sixth Ave., hoping to hide inside, but police broke open the gate and arrested him.

Dezmon Sardina, 19, of New Jersey was charged with reckless endangerment, larceny and resisting arrest.

As Sardina was careening into the corner of Fifth Ave. and 13th St. in the Jeep, a nanny, Cindy Gaston of Brooklyn, grabbed a 4-year-old boy from the path of the oncoming vehicle, averting tragedy by inches.

Gaston was hospitalized with an injury to her leg and later released.