A 5-year-old Bronx boy was battered but alive after tumbling to the sidewalk from a second-story fire escape at his family’s apartment building Monday, his parents told The Post.
Little Javonte Francis climbed out of the family’s fourth-floor window while his parents and older siblings were home at the East 167th Street building shortly before 11 a.m., scrambled down two flights on the fire escape, then fell to the ground and was rushed into surgery at Harlem Hospital but will make it through, the family said.
“A miracle,” Javonte’s mom, Luzkeishia Fortys, said at the Morrisania apartment building hours after the frightening mishap. “The grace of God. I’m gonna be honest — the grace of God.
A 5-year-old boy climbed onto the fire escape and fell in Morrisania on Monday. James Messerschmidt for NY Post
“He walking. He was screaming,” Fortys said. “He was conscious. He was fighting, arguing with the paramedics and everything.”
The boy’s dad said his son is “pretty alright,” adding the boy suffered a fractured rib and stitches on his chin and had to have two back teeth pulled.
The mom said she was napping when her young son snuck out the window and fell — and the next time she saw the boy, he was in the arms of a cop.
Police responded to a 911 call at the Morrisania building around 10:55 a.m. and found the injured child on the sidewalk — with a neighbor banging on the door to notify the family of the tragedy, sources said.
Javonte’s father, Javon Francis, said the boy is autistic and a bit of an escape artist who has a knack for opening doors and windows — and said those at their apartment are equipped with safety gates.
“It’s like an invitation for him,” Francis said of the set-up, which the parents said is still not secure.
The child’s family said he underwent surgery but is expected to survive after his fall.. James Messerschmidt for NY Post
Fortys said the landlord has known about their safety concern since her son was barely walking.
“That’s all I ever asked for, to fix the windows,” she said. “[The landlord] knows that my son is severely autistic .I’ve been living here since my son was 1 year old.
The landlord and super of the building could not immediately be reached for comment.
Police said the boy is in stable condition and added, “No criminality suspected at this time.”
Additional reporting by Amanda Woods