NEW YORK — A 3-year-old girl fell out a Bronx window Wednesday after sneaking out the front door of her second-floor apartment and scampering up the stairs to a higher level — with her frantic grandfather in panicked pursuit.
Michelle Boadu’s grandpa had just gotten home from work and was walking into the apartment on Sheridan Ave. near E. 172 St. in Claremont about 7:35 p.m. when the toddler slipped out, the shaken man told the Daily News.
Video viewed by The News shows Michelle running down the hallway and ducking into the stairwell just before her family came running out looking for her.
“She went up to the third floor just after her grandfather (got back), not 45 seconds after,” said Manuel Vargas, the building superintendent.
Three adults were in the apartment with Michelle, where each window has a window guard.
“I was searching everywhere for her,” said Andrews Sarpong, Michelle’s grandfather. “I did not know where.” Minutes later, a sixth-floor neighbor heard a “thump.”
“It was so loud I thought it was a car crash downstairs,” said John, who declined to provide his last name. “I look out the window and the baby was on the scaffolding bleeding from the mouth. She was trying to get up but she couldn’t.”
The man called Sarpong who “came running.”
“She was conscious,” said Sarpong, 56. “She was crying. Without the scaffolding she would’ve died. I feel so bad. I was there and it happened.”
Medics took Michelle to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia, where she is recovering, Sarpong said.
“There are no hallway windows to that side of the building, just apartments,” said the neighbor who spotted Michelle. “What window? What floor? That’s the mystery.”
Police later said Michelle fell from the third floor onto scaffolding level with the second floor.
The building is constructed on a slope, and at its highest is eight stories tall.
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