Bronx toddler Jose was at home with his mother, sister, and aunt when he fell five floors out of his apartment room window. Surveillance footage of the incident captured the three-year-old crashing onto the sidewalk. Moments later, Jose shakily attempts to stand up before his feet falter beneath him.
The video footage shows a woman approaching the child. She pulls out her cellphone, gazing skyward as a crowd gathers around the injured child.
NBC New York reports that Jose has Down syndrome and was playing in his apartment home shortly before the horrifying accident. His family had not realized that Jose had managed to remove a piece of cardboard used to seal the area around the room’s air conditioning unit.
When Jose’s mother realized her son had fallen out of the window, she assumed he had died. She was too afraid to check on Jose’s condition, so Jose’s aunt rushed downstairs to find the child.
In Spanish, Jose’s aunt told NBC New York: “He was just looking at us in surprise. Just seemed scared as if wondering what was happening.”
The incident is being treated as an accident, according to the New York Police Department. No charges will be filed.
Miraculously, Jose only broke his femur. His fall was broken by the office awning of Hector Nazario, which slowed the child’s fall enough to keep him from suffering more serious injuries. Young Jose will still have to spend a month in the hospital to recover from the injury but is otherwise in excellent condition.
Nazario commented on the incident: “It’s kind of hard to look at something like that happening. But you know, it’s a miracle the child is still alive, and it could have been worse.”
The building’s superintendent told NBC New York that the window originally had a window guard in place, but Jose’s family had removed it to install the air conditioning unit in their apartment.
