A 7-year-old girl with autism is safe after falling from a third-story window Monday, thanks to a passerby who was there to catch her.
Witnesses said that the child was dancing on top of a window air conditioner before tumbling from the Brooklyn, N.Y. building.
Steven St. Bernard, a New York City bus driver, was on his way home from work when he saw the girl.
“I was just praying that I would get there and that if she (fell) that I would catch her,” he told CBS New York. And catch her he did, a moment that was caught on video.
The child’s mother, Saleema McCree, said she thought her daughter, Keyla, was sleeping in her room when the incident occurred.
I am thrilled that the girl is okay and that Mr. St. Bernard happened to be where he was at the right time. However, video of the mother I’ve seen on the news horrifies me. It seems the mother had installed the AC unit the day before, and she failed to close vents on the side of it. The girl crawled through the vents, which allowed her to get outside. Now, the mother is threatening a lawsuit for her own improper installation. That is just terrible.
I saw the video, it was scary. As people are taking pictures and video with cell phones, this man gets below the window and catches her. He dislocated his elbow. He has a child the same age and was thinking of her. This man whose child does not have a disability was able to empathize with a child who does. This is rare and a great story.