4-Year-Old Falls From 10th Floor Balcony, In Serious Condition: Police

A 4-year-old boy is in serious condition after he fell from the 10th-story balcony of an apartment complex in New York City Saturday, police said.

Officials from the New York City Fire Department and New York Police Department responded to the building on Noble Avenue in the Bronx just before 2:30 p.m. for reports of a fall victim, WABC reported.

The 4-year-old boy, who was not named in the report, was taken to the Jacobi Medical Center in critical condition.

There was at least one parent present inside their apartment at the time of the incident, police said.

A preliminary investigation into the incident found no evidence of criminality involved in the child's fall, NBC New York reported, citing authorities.

The child fell from a 10th-floor balcony facing the back that looked like typical apartment balconies with a railing all around, police said.

No further details have been released by authorities as of this writing. It is not clear how the child was able to get on the balcony.

Multiple witnesses saw the fall, including 11-year-old Nataly Rojas, who said that she heard a girl screaming and then saw the boy unconscious behind a tree behind the apartment building, the New York Post reported.

“It’s scary, it’s traumatizing,” she said.

Another witness was 72-year-old Wencelesco Marin, a retired factory worker who lives in the same building as the child. He said he was playing baseball across the street at the Noble Playground at the time of the incident.

“You know what, I blame the parents. He’s 4 years old. He has no business being on the balcony,” Marin, who lives on the 17th floor of the apartment complex, was quoted as saying by the New York Post. “You just gotta take care of the kids. You can’t just disregard these kids when they’re playing.”

He said that he had never heard of any incident similar to this in his 24 years of living in the building. He emphasized the need to keep an eye on young children when they're playing.

“Kids are kids. They don’t know. They climb up on trees, they fall. It’s a miracle he’s still alive. We’re talking about ten floors,” he said, adding, “I just feel sorry for the kid. I hope he survives.”