'He was so lucky': 3-year-old boy survives 5-story fall out NYC apartment window
WESTCHESTER SQUARE, The Bronx (WABC) -- A 3-year-old boy is lucky to be alive after falling five stories out a window in his Bronx apartment Monday afternoon.
The boy, named Jose, plunged from the bedroom window of the apartment on Maclay Avenue in the Westchester Square section just after 1:30 p.m.
"I went out like, where's the baby, where's the baby?" his sister, Mia Jiminez, told Eyewitness News in an exclusive interview. "The baby was right there. He was with his iPad, normal things he do."
The boy had pushed out a piece of cardboard next to the air conditioner, and the remaining space was wide enough for him to slip through.
Jose struck a store awning -- which likely saved his life -- before landing on the ground.
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"I just saw the little boy crying hysterically and a lot of blood going down his rib cage," witness Elias Peralta said.
He was taken to Jacobi Medical Center with a contusion to the head, a broken right femur, and other injuries.
Miraculously, he is expected to survive.
Mia, his mother and his aunt were all home at the time.
"My heart is broken because we are always aware of where he is," his aunt, Rosmary Santelises, said. "And in one minute, it happened so fast. He's the angel the house."
At first, no one in the apartment realized Jose had fallen out of the window, until a neighbor came banging on their door.
That's when they ran downstairs and saw Jose, who had tried to stand up several times.
"I saw him, he moved, I'm like thank God," Mia said. "I take him, I was crying, my friend was like, 'Don't cry, he's alive.' He was so lucky."
The city's Administration for Children's Services was notified, but no criminality is suspected.
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