Last night I was on my dinner break (the golden rule is when on dinner, if they dont call, don't answer up) But as I was eating a call came in for a "1 year old child who had fallen out a 3rd floor window" fuck dinner, all cops start rolling on a call like that. Firstly, due to a language barrier we were sent to the wrong street, but it was quickly rectified and we were rerouted (kudos to dispatcher for being on top of thatand double checking the info)
When we got off on scene, there was no kid on the ground, I asked a bystander where the kid was and he said the guy carried him back upstairs. My heart sank, anyone who has sustained even the most moderate physical trauma shouldn't be moved because if they have sustained any spinal chord damage, moving them the wrong way could paralyze them. I ran up to the 3rd floor and found a seargent kneeling beside the child (who was actually 7 years old) keeping c-spine alignment and trying to keep the child calm, the seargent I know is one of the few of us that has EMT training (I do as well) so I got down and assumed c-spine and kept the child calm while the seargent did a quick secondary survey, checking out where the most extensive injuries are and making note for the actual EMT's and Medics when they arrive at the scene.
This child was so scared, but he was so intelligent, articulate and just a great little boy, I was amazed that he was awake, alert and able to verbalize his injuries. He was so brave too, through his tears (from being scared) and his occasional screams (from the injuries) he was able to keep a conversation going with me (I was conversing with him trying to calm him and take his mind off of all the craziness going on around him, and also gauge his level of alertness) He kept saying he couldn't breathe and thought he was going to die. I told him we weren't about to let that happen. I can still hear his actual words " don't even, don't even, don't even let me die please????"
The medics arrived and took over patient care, from their initial assesment. They believe he may have sustained a broken tibia,fibia, femur and possible hip fracture, and maybe some damage to his spleen.The Medics arranged an air ambulance (a helecopter) to fly him directly into Boston for fast level 1 trauma treatment of injuries. His prognosis was that he was going to be ok,but his leg is shattered from foot to hip and he is going to have a lot of rehab ahead of him.
When he was transported away from the scene by the EMT's we were able to investigate and put together what had happened. The babysitter was distracted while the child and his little sister were jumping on a couch set right in front of the 3rd floor windows, the sister lost her balance and bumped into the child and he fell backwards through the open window, through the screen did what we can only describe as a full rotation free fall somersault and landed on a small patch of grass, about a foot away from a chain link fence and asphault. HE LANDED ON HIS FEET.......
If youlooked down from the window you could see the imprints of his feet in the grass and dirt where he landed......
(If he had of landed any other way, or a foot left or a foot right he would have surely been killed)
Some days you just have to believe that there is someone watching over us and when your times up, it's up. But not a moment sooner.
The rest of my shift was spent thinking about that brave, scared, lucky little boy. Below is the story as it appeared in the local paper (Names changed to protect....)
Published: 09/26/2007
Boy, 7, lives through fall out third-floor window
By JB staff writer
LAWRENCE - A 7-year-old boy survived a fall out of a third-floor window in a Prospect Hill apartment last night.
The boy, BD Jr., landed on his feet, and suffered injuries to his legs in the 8:30 p.m. fall, police said.
The boy had been playing with his younger sister on a couch when he fell through a screen in a window of a apartment at Graichen Court, at the home of F....&V.....M..... . The couple were baby-sitting the children while their parents, residents of Prospect St., were at work.
Imprints of the boy's feet were made in the hard dirt where he landed, according to the police report.
Though he was awake and talking to police - and moaning in pain - BD Jr. was rushed directly to a helicopter landing site near the Hospital, and was taken directly to Tufts New England Medical Center. Police Chief said officers didn't want to take chances, due to how far the boy had fallen.
"I mean, he fell three stories," the Chief said. "That's quite a distance."
So far, investigators believe the fall was an accident. However, they did admonish the male babysitter, who told police he panicked and had picked the boy up, carrying him back to the third floor apartment before dialing 911. Police told the male that moving the boy could have worsened his injuries.
The boy's parents were so distraught that they could not drive; police had to drive them to the hospital in Boston so they could be with their son, police said.
"The cops really felt sorry for them," the Chief said.
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