New York's Second Samaritan Save This Week
Jan. 4, 2007 -- A baby boy tumbled out of a fourth-story window in a Bronx apartment complex -- and miraculously fell into the hands of two fast-acting pedestrians below.
"This is the week of heroes in New York," New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.
Kelly was referring to a previous incident this week when Wesley Autrey, 50, jumped from a subway platform in Harlem to smother a man who had suffered a seizure and fallen onto the tracks.
A train passed over the two men, but neither was struck.
In the Bronx Thursday, the 3-year-old climbed out of a fifth-floor window and down to the fourth-floor fire escape at the apartment complex.
On the ground below, Pedro Nevarez, 40, and Julio Gonzalez, 43, saw the toddler precariously perched above them.
The boy lost his grip, hitting a tree during his fall and ultimately landing safely on the two men below.
He was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital with cuts and abrasions to his head and face, but was in good shape, considering.
Detectives are now questioning the boy's 50-year-old babysitter, who lives in the apartment building but was not named by authorities. No charges were immediately filed.
The woman apparently opened the apartment's only window, which did not have window guards, to smoke a cigarette.
After she was done, the babysitter left the window open and unattended -- and the baby boy climbed through.
When the babysitter began looking around and couldn't find the child, she heard a commotion on the ground below.
There, she saw the baby in the arms of the two Samaritans.