WHITE OAK, Pa. — Two young children are now in stable condition after falling 30 feet from a third-story apartment window in White Oak on Monday afternoon.
The traumatic incident happened around 3:15 p.m. at the Lincoln School apartment building on Ohio Avenue.
Allegheny County Police are handling the investigation. Both children were upgraded to stable condition on Tuesday.
“The kids, the parents, the mother, I can’t even imagine what they’re going through. It’s terrible,” said neighbor Kathy DiAngelo.
She’s among the neighbors and apartment building residents rattled by this scary situation.
“I’m just praying that they’ll be okay. I’m praying for the parents of the kids. I wouldn’t wish nothing like that on nobody’s family,” said Lincoln School resident Lucy Yancey.
According to White Oak EMS Chief Paul Falavolito, a 6-year-old boy fell out the window before his 3-year-old sister then looked out the window and fell as well.
“Both children were awake, obviously in a lot of pain. Our crews and our police department did a fantastic job to stabilize them while one child was flown by helicopter to Children’s Hospital, and the other by ground, ambulance, to Children’s Hospital,” said Falavolito.
Residents told Channel 11 that the building’s windows are original, dating back to the 1800s when the building was a school.
One tenant said the window the children fell through has been broken for more than a month -- and a second window -- for close to six months.
“We just heard the mother continuously very upset about something with a maintenance issue with the window that she had reported weeks ago,” said Falavolito.
An anonymous tenant showed Channel 11 the windows in her unit saying they’ve had bee hives and broken pieces in them since she moved in March 1.
“I have nests in my windows and broken glass in my windows and I have bees flying into my property,” she said. “This building is not being attended to the way it should be.”
When this resident asked the management company Brandywine Communities about fixing her windows this is what they told her: “I was told that windows are not being replaced due to the historical nature of this building,” she said.
Channel 11 reached out to Brandywine Communities about Monday’s incident, as well as the apartment’s windows, and received a statement from spokesperson Dan Ayer, reading in full:
“We continue to share our deep concern with the family and the children.
While we are unable to comment directly on yesterday’s events because of the ongoing investigation, we are taking steps to ensure something like this cannot — and will not — happen again.
We are surveying maintenance concerns in all our units at Lincoln School Apartments, as well as making any needed repairs. We are also reviewing our processes for communication with our residents regarding any issues with their units and will be proactively communicating with them on how to reach us if there is a concern.”
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