Video: Bus Driver Saves Autistic Child From A Three-Story Fall In Coney Island
A 7-year-old girl was saved by a New York City bus driver on Monday, after she lost her balance and plunged from the third story of a building in Coney Island.
The girl, Kayla, squeezed herself out of her family’s apartment at the Coney Island Public Housing Complex, and onto an air conditioning unit at about 2:10 p.m., policemen and witnesses told the Daily News.
She then began to dance and sing outside, while on the unit. A video posted by the Daily News shows that she lost control and fell after swinging one of her feet around the air-conditioning unit. Fortunately, her savior, Steve St. Bernard, 52, was nearby, and quickly ran and caught her in his arms.
“Please let me catch her, please let me catch her,” St. Bernard remembered thinking as she fell. “That’s all I could say. Let me catch the little baby,” he told NBC 4 New York.
St. Bernard was on his way home from work and headed to his own 7-year-old daughter when he stopped and saw Kayla on the air unit, said DNAinfo.com
A witness told the Daily News that the girls head hit a small bush after St. Bernard was knocked to the ground when he caught Kayla. Fire Department officials said that both were taken to Coney Island Hospital after the incident, according to DNAinfo.com.
The Daily News said that St. Bernard was treated for a ripped tendon in his left bicep, and was then released from the hospital.
Kayla only suffered from minor injuries and is feeling fine.
“She’s fine,” said her mother, Shaleema McCree, to the New York Post. “Not a scratch on her. The man caught her, thank God. It’s a miracle.”
McCree told the Post that she had taken a younger son to the bathroom when Kayla, who is a small-framed autistic girl, pushed her way through the window.
