Boy, 3, survives five-story fall

NY Daily News

by TANYANIKA SAMUELS and CARRIE MELAGO

A Bronx child plunged five stories and his brother was left perched on a ledge after the children tumbled out of a window as they jumped on a bed, police said.

Three-year-old Judan Gutierrez miraculously survived the fall, while a neighbor rushed up a fire escape and pushed his 1-year-old brother, Yimil, back into the house, witnesses said.

As hero neighbor Franklin DeJesus, 34, rescued the younger child, firefighters returning from a call witnessed the drama and quickly administered care to little Judan.

"He had a guardian angel watching over him," said Firefighter Ken of Ladder33.

The children were playing about 6:30 p.m. when they bounced into the window of their parents' fifth-floor apartment on Creston Ave., Tremont, knocking loose an air conditioner, police said.

As neighbors looked on in horror, Judan fell into the building's courtyard, while his brother was left on the ledge with the air conditioner.

"We saw the second child in the window, like he was about to fall, and we started screaming at him to step back," said Elaine Ortiz, 41. "We were trying to entertain him so he would stay in the window."

DeJesus, who is Ortiz's brother, heard the screams, ran out of his apartment and scaled a fire escape. The air conditioner fell from the ledge as he saved the younger child, narrowly missing young Judan below.

Meanwhile, the firefighters from nearby Ladder 33, were returning from the call, and Martin said he saw Judan fall out of the corner of his eye.

"I noticed a child, he looked like a doll at the time, fall out the window," Martin said. "We were lucky we were driving by."

Judan was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital but later transferred to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was listed in critical but stable condition last night.

"It was an accident," said the boys' grandfather Ignacio Gutierrez.

Police said there was no criminality in the matter. Neighbors saw the child's mother briefly put in handcuffs after the incident, but police sources said she was hysterical and had tried to lift Judan.

"The parents came down. They were crying," said witness Rosanna Ortiz, 15. "The mom was saying, 'That's my child, that's my child.'"










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