Bronx Toddler, 2, Dies After Falling From a Fifth-Floor Window: Police Say She Slipped Past an Air-Conditioner Panel and No Criminality Is Suspected
New York — A 2-year-old girl died after falling from a fifth-floor apartment window in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City, late on Tuesday, November 3. The New York City Police Department said no criminality was suspected and that the investigation was ongoing.
Police said the fall happened at about 10:45 p.m. from the top floor of a building at 572 East 138th Street, near St. Ann's Avenue. The child was found unconscious in an alleyway beside the building and was rushed to Harlem Hospital, where she died of her injuries. Law enforcement sources said the toddler had been fiddling with the accordion-style divider beside a window air-conditioning unit and apparently pushed it aside, slipping through the gap between the unit and the window frame.
The girl's father, Chayanne Polanco, told reporters on November 5 that his daughter, Julia Cante Wilcox-Polanco, was a super energetic, bubbly child who loved to climb, and that he was at tech school studying to become an electrician when she fell. A memorial has since been set up in the alleyway where she landed.
New York City law requires approved window guards in homes with children aged 10 and under, but the adjustable side panels of a window air conditioner provide no such protection. Police have not released details about the window guards in the apartment, and the exact circumstances that brought the child to the opening remain under investigation. (Source: New York City Police Department)
Source: New York City Police Department
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：纽约市布朗克斯区莫特黑文社区街景（资料图，非事发现场）。照片：Kidfly182，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: A street in Mott Haven, the Bronx, New York City (file photo; not the scene). Photo by Kidfly182, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
