Bronx Boy Dies After 23-Story Fall

Wow. This is so sad. I've lived in three story buildings, like the one I'm in now, and even at that height children can be severely injured. Just last year I believe, there was this four year old (I was was told that age) who lost a toy outside the window which has no screens. A major viololation at my complex. He actually went after the toy! The single father was passed out in the front room. He claimed he had been drinking coffee. Either way, he shouldn't have let his son play near an open window. From what I understood, the father was on some sort of meds. I couldn't say what kind but it was for something and I guess it hindered his thinking or wakefullness. Something to that effect. Luckily the boy was okay. I don't recall if he broke anything but he did return home. Additionally, I couldn't tell you if the father was investigated. I don't really poke my self into my neighbors business unless they happen to tell me themselves. The only reason I knew of this incident was I had been outside talking with a few people and we saw an ambulance go by.

@Everybody: When I lived in the Bronx, every window had a gate attached to it to prevent children from falling out of the window. The owner said it was a requirement by law. Is this the case with your building? I heard about laws protecting children in high-rise apartments. Is this really enforced?

A lot of accidents that happen to children can be attributed to neglect by the parents. In many cases, the mother would be on the phone talking to someone when the child got out of her sight. I have heard of a case where a mother got drunk and passed out, waking up to find her child missing. When she went to find him, she found what she didn't expect or what to see. Her child was dead from strangulation. Apparently the child saw a light cord and thought it was string. He grabbed it, wrapped it around his neck and when he pulled to hard the lamp fall off the table, onto the floor, taking the cord with it. The cord was already wrapped around the neck of the child. It was pulled so hard that the child could not remove it and died from choking. How horrible.

On the other hand, many accidents occur because the child is nosy, wants to experiment, finds something that intrigues him, and gets hurt in the process. But, in this case, where was the mother?

That's why I am not ready to let my little one use the bathroom at night by herself. Now, my oldest whose 7, I'm fine with it. My mom doesn't like that for a while I had locks on the bathroom door. She told me that I needed to leave it open at night so my daughter could use the bathroom. But since my deceased friends nephews death. It scares me and, yes, I have a gate put up for the night. It's not that I am trying to be neglectful, but more accidents happen in the bathroom than any other room in the home. We don't even have her go into the kitchen by herself because we can't see her well and there are knives and if the stove is on, I don't want her to get hurt. We took out a dresser from a room she was staying in once because she climbed on it and the tv fell down and bust open her hand. Glad it didnt get her anywhere else. Nothing was broken either. Thank GOD. What really was the more madening part was that we didn't have a major hospital there. Just a regular one. So, if they need to they actually life flight people to the nearest hospital that has the ablity to help. Well we had to take a TWO HOUR drive to SLC and wait until midnight, I kid you not, just so the hospital staff would stitch her hand. She had an open wound for about . . . 6-8 hours becuase the staff was more concerned about the illegals coming in that thought that they had swine flu. Everyone was wearing masks. We knew that were illegals. The interpreter was there and not even the kids spoke English. I'm not racist, just so you know. I have plenty of hispanic friends. A couple I've worked with but they all speak Enlgish. Spanish is their second language.

Oh, and another reason I have to be extra careful with my youngest daughter is becuase of her learning disabilities and her ADD.