5-year-old with autism plummets multiple stories from fire escape in Morrisania while parents were sleeping
It happened on East 167th Street. Authorities say the child, identified by family as Javontai, somehow made his way onto a third-floor fire escape before falling onto the sidewalk below.
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A Bronx family is devastated after police say their 5-year-old son with autism fell from a fire escape in Morrisania early Monday morning.
It happened on East 167th Street. Authorities say the child, identified by family as Javontai, somehow made his way onto a third-floor fire escape before falling onto the sidewalk below.
“My son just fell — I’m thinking the worst,” said his father, Javon Franics.
Franics said he and his wife were asleep when neighbors began shouting and banging on their door after witnessing the fall.
“They like, ‘Yo, your kid just fell out the window. ’ I just ran out there immediately,” he said.
The child, who is nonverbal, was taken to Harlem Hospital Center, where his father said he is alert and expected to recover.
Franics claims the window leading to the fire escape does not lock, despite repeated complaints to building management.
“We’ve complained to the landlord… we needed something done with the window so he cannot leave,” he said.
Under city law, landlords are required to install window guards in apartments with young children. However, those requirements do not apply to windows leading to fire escapes. In those cases, alternative safety measures, such as window gates, may be installed.
Franics said building management — Sherman Holding — quoted him between $300 and $500 for a window gate, which he says his family cannot afford.
“We have five kids,” he said.
A spokesperson for Sherman Holding was not immediately available for comment. The company was closed in observance of Passover.
The family is now calling for changes to prevent something similar from happening again.
