From NY1:A four-year-old boy died today after falling 23 stories from a balcony in a Bronx building, according to police.
Malachi Johnson fell from the balcony at 140 De Kruif Place and Dreiser Loop in Co-Op City at about 7:45 p.m.
Investigators say Malachi's mother was home at the time of the incident.
The child's head was split open and he was declared dead at Jacobi Hospital, according to police.
The Department of Buildings issued a warning about unsafe balconies at 16 apartment buildings across the city last month, including the building at 140 De Kruif Place.
6 comments:
I was there when it happened...my mom jumped the fencing and ran up to him to take a pulse...she tripped on his blood and a broken toy truck near him...she was inconsolable screaming "his brains are everywhere". This is truly a sad day.
Balconys are merely an excuse to store more junk.
The city should ban them in most buildings.
You want fresh air? Then fight for parks and open space. Don't have every damn lot developed on.
How many terraces are there in Co-op City? This might not be an isolated condition.
This is a tragedy.
If it's because of the alleged unsafe (that is, uninspected) condition, doubly so.
But @anonymous, balconies are good things. A park or an open space is not the same as your private open space, someplace you can sit, sleep, or cook in peace.
Besides the fresh air (how many children fall from windows, equally tragic) the view from a high-rise balcony (I lived on the 24th floor of the next building, with a balcony overlooking the Greenway and a lot else) is a significant feature making an apartment with one more desirable.
From the NY Times
A 4-year-old boy was killed in the Bronx on Friday when he fell off an apartment balcony and plunged more than 20 stories to his death, the police said.
The boy, whose name was not immediately released, was playing on his family’s 23rd-floor balcony in the Co-op City housing complex about 7:45 p.m. when the accident happened, the police said.
Witnesses said they saw the boy playing alone, noticed him looking over the balcony, and a moment later he fell.
This was an unfortunate tragedy, but to emphasize that the balcony was "unsafe" detracts from the real problem; a 4-year old playing alone on a balcony.
sounds like the lawsuit is already brewing.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/06/12/2010-06-12_malachi_johnsons_father_wants_answers_after_4yearold_boy_plunges_to_23story_deat.html
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