If you believe in guardian angels, then you know that they come to people in their moment of greatest need in unexpected forms. But whoever heard of a guardian angle from Dallas, Tex. of all places?
“If he has a Dallas Cowboys sticker on his car out there, I’m letting our officers arrest him,” Mayor Randy Brown joked last week, as he shook the hand of Anthony Baynard. The Evesham Township Council and two very lucky employees from Jay Roberts Jewelers honored Baynard for his quick thinking in July when he helped save two injured after an elderly driver crashed her car through the front wall of the jewelry store.
“In my five years of mayor, I’ve never seen a show of bravery like Anthony showed that day,” Brown said.
A consultant with Club Metro, Baynard has been living in Marlton for the past few months while he has helped develop the new fitness club.
On the day of accident, Baynard said he was in the club’s office speaking with Glenn O’Hare, the club’s manager, and the pair was discussing the importance of neighbors in the commercial complex, when a huge explosion-like noise came from outside.
“It shook the whole building. I ran outside and saw smoke coming out of the jewelry shop,” Baynard said. “I just ran over and wanted to see if we could be of help to anyone.”
When he came to the storefront he was amazed to find a vehicle had crashed completely through the storefront window at Roberts Jewelers. He approached the vehicle and yelled at the woman to see if she was alright, Baynard said, and the first thing she asked was if she had “killed anyone” in the store. Thinking quickly, Baynard unjammed her foot from the brake and shut the car off before going into the store and seeing the havoc.
It had been a normal day for longtime employees Olivia Pantalone and Joan Morein, until the several ton car exploded into the jewelry store. Morein was thrown like a ragdoll onto the ground and was lodged under the car, while Pantalone was pinned between the car and one of the showcases in store.
“I don’t remember much from the day, but I remember opening my eyes and seeing the crest of his Club Metro shirt as he lifted me up from the ground,” Morein said. Baynard had picked her up from the ground and took her to a safer location in the store. Morein never even saw the face of her rescuer until he was honored at last week’s council meeting, she said.
Pantalone said Baynard ran into the scene like a superhero and most likely saved her life that day. He lifted the showcase off of the injured employee and saw that she had two very deep cuts on her forearm, she said, and he instructed her to keep her arm above her head to limit the bleeding after wrapping the wound. An Evesham EMS employee said that if he didn’t tell her to keep her arms above her head she might not have made it due to excessive blood loss, her husband Joe Pantalone said.
“He came in like superman. He took care of some other employees and then he lifted me out,” Olivia said, tears brimming in her eyes as she told the story.
Jake Spigelman, co-owner of the store with Jay Golde, said he was in the back of the facility when the car ran through the window. When he came out to the front room he said he saw Joan “under a pile of rubble and she wasn’t moving” and he initially thought that she was “a goner.”
But thanks to a quick thinking consultant, both Olivia and Joan got a chance to hug Baynard and thank him for his bravery. For his heroism, Baynard was presented with a new watch from Jay Roberts.
“All I wanted to do was help. We’re neighbors, neighbors help neighbors,” Baynard said.
