4-year-old boy survives fall out 6-story window in the Bronx

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

4-year-old boy survives fall out 6-story window in NYC

A 4-year-old boy miraculously survived a fall out a sixth floor window of the Patterson Houses in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx Tuesday.

MOTT HAVEN, Bronx (WABC) -- A 4-year-old boy miraculously survived a fall out a sixth floor window in the Bronx Tuesday.

It happened around noon at the Patterson Houses NYCHA complex on East 143rd Street in Mott Haven.

It appeared the child fell between a gap in the window created by an air conditioner.

He was alert but crying and appeared to sustained a leg injury.

Police officers drove him in their cruiser to the emergency room at Lincoln Hospital, where he was being treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The child's 29-year-old mother was home at the time, and neighbors said it must've been horrifying moments.

"Just even thinking it and just imagining a little kid coming out of the window, it's horrifying," neighbor Lei Suarez said. "It's horrifying."

New York City requires all apartments with children 10 and under living there to have window guards.

Some neighbors say regardless, seeing some windows without the guards is troubling.

"From what I can see, there is like no stuff on those windows," neighbor Jaelina Lantigua said. "On some of the windows right there don't have the gate, the covering with it."

A NYCHA official who has seen photos of the apartment says there are window guards in all the other windows in the apartment, as required, and the air conditioner remains in the window where they believe the child fell.

NYCHA spokesperson says tenants are permitted to have air conditioners in apartments, and the investigation is ongoing into what happened in this incident.

"NYCHA is investigating this unfortunate incident and will work with the family to make sure that they have the services they need," the agency said in a statement. "Upon initial review, window guards are present throughout the apartment where required and were last checked in February 2022, and there are no repair work orders on record for the air conditioners present in the residence."

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