Baby Sitter Dies to Save 3 Children

A 19-year-old baby sitter was crushed to death when she threw herself in front of a van with three children inside to stop it from rolling into a lake, police said.

Rachel Snyder momentarily left the children in the van, and when she returned, she saw it rolling toward Lake Orion, said Police Chief James Leach.

“It looks like she thought, ‘I’ve got to do something,’ and just got in front of the van,” he said.

The van came to a stop on top of her, Leach said, and her body was discovered under the left wheel by a boy who was fishing nearby.

“She was baby-sitting while the children’s father visited his wife in the hospital,” Leach said. “She apparently ran into the house for a second to get a stroller and saw the van moving toward the lake when she returned.”

Leach said the children, ages 1, 2 and 4 months, were unharmed.

If she had not jumped in front of the van, he said, it probably would have hit a tree, which would have kept it from going into the lake.