NEW YORK, NY – Two young children were injured in separate incidents on Sunday after falling out of windows in New York City apartment buildings. According to a report in the New York Post, the accidents occurred just hours apart, and both children fell from windows without proper guarding.
The first incident happened at around 11:30 a.m. at the Chelsea Houses public housing complex on 420 West 26th Street.
A three-year-old girl fell from a sixth-floor apartment after climbing on a bed pushed against an unguarded window. She fell approximately 60 feet and landed on a grassy area below.
The child was rushed to Bellevue Hospital in critical but stable condition. Sources reported that there were five other children and three adults in the apartment at the time of the accident, and the window did not have window guards as required by city law.
Later in the day, a two-year-old girl fell from a fifth-story window at an apartment building on Beachgirt Boulevard in Far Rockaway and was taken to Long Island Jewish Children’s Hospital in stable condition.
Under New York City law, window guards are required by landlords in apartments where children are present. The New York City Housing Authority operated the building in the first incident. The location and owner of the Far Rockaway building is unknown at this time.
The news was first reported by the New York Post.
In all buildings with three or more apartments, New York City law requires that building owners install window guards if a ten-year-old or younger child lives there, or if the tenant or occupant requests window guards for any reason.