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Toddler Survives Fall From LES Apartment Window, Police Say

By  Trevor Kapp and Aidan Gardiner | April 23, 2014 7:55am | Updated on April 23, 2014 10:19am

 A toddler, inset, survived a fall from a third-floor apartment when he landed on a garbage enclosure at 177 Chrystie St. on Wednesday April 23, 2014, police said.
A toddler, inset, survived a fall from a third-floor apartment when he landed on a garbage enclosure at 177 Chrystie St. on Wednesday April 23, 2014, police said.
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Composite with DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp and Kip Lavinger

LOWER EAST SIDE — A 2-year-old boy was recovering in the hospital after surviving a three-story plunge from a Chrystie Street apartment window early Wednesday morning, by landing on a garbage can shed below, officials and witnesses said.

The toddler, whose name was not released, was home with his parents and grandmother at 177 Chrystie St., near Rivington Street, about 1:20 a.m. when he managed to climb through an open window and plunge onto the garbage bin holder below, an NYPD spokesman and witnesses said.

"All of a sudden, I just heard a boom. It was a loud bang. It sounded like two cars hit each other," said Earl Boyd, 58, who happened to be in the park across from the apartment at the time.

"The baby was crying. I was crying. But I was thinking, 'I'd rather hear the baby crying than hear nothing,'" Boyd added.

The diaper-clad tot then rolled off the enclosure and onto the sidewalk where he lay howling as Boyd and another couple ran over to help, Boyd said.

The boy's family ran out about 15 minutes later, yelling and panicking, he added.

"The mother picked up the baby. She was yelling, 'My baby fell out the window!'" Boyd said.

The toddler was strapped into a stretcher and taken to Bellevue hospital, where he was as treated for minor injuries, witnesses and police said.

"I was looking for blood or bruises. I saw some bruises on the face," Boyd said.

The Administration for Children's Services was investigating the boy's fall, a spokesman said.

There were no window guards on the window the child fell out of.

The building's super, Andres Duran, 54, said he had never been directed to install a guard rail. He said tenants can ask for a new railing from building management, who will direct him to install it, or notify him directly, but he never received such an order.

"The window guard's broken? I don't know.  He can tell me, but he never called me. He can call the office. He didn't tell me anything," Duran said.

The building is owned by Bethel Management, records show. A representative for the company could not be reached for comment.

The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which is responsible for investigating falls where there were no window guards, said they were investigating the incident.

It was not immediately clear if the window had been left open or the 2-year-old opened it himself.

Police did not suspect any criminality.