A 2-year-old girl was hospitalized Wednesday morning after falling from a second-floor window of a South Side home in the 7900-block of South Phillips Avenue, according to Chicago police. The fall happened just after 10 a.m. She suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital, where she was listed in fair condition. Police said the case is being handled as non-criminal and accidental, and no one else was hurt.
As reported by ABC7 Chicago, officers confirmed the child was transported to Comer Children's Hospital and said there were no additional victims. The station noted that investigators have labeled the fall accidental and treated the situation as a developing incident.
How common are window falls?
Local doctors say scenes like this have become less frequent in Chicago, and they credit years of prevention work. The Stop the Falls coalition, which includes Lurie Children's and several other city hospitals, reports that targeted outreach and window-guard programs have helped cut window-fall injuries by more than half since 2001, according to Lurie Children's.
National research still paints a sobering picture: falls remain the leading cause of nonfatal injury for children, and studies estimate that more than 5,000 kids fall from windows each year. Those trends are documented in a national review.
Prevention tips for caregivers
Safety advocates emphasize that a few small changes at home can dramatically cut the risk of a dangerous fall. They recommend moving beds, sofas and other climbable furniture away from windows; installing approved window guards or stops that keep openings to about four inches; and remembering that screens are designed to keep bugs out, not children in. For a step-by-step guide to choosing guards with emergency-release features and other practical tips, see the checklist from Safe Kids Worldwide.
Police have not released additional information about who was supervising the child at the time or whether a window guard or screen was in place, according to the initial local report. ABC7 Chicago described the incident as developing, and investigators have classified the fall as accidental.
