Mother’s Quick Reflexes Save Son Falling Through Fourth-Floor Stair Railing

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CCTV footage captured a mother just barely catching hold of her son’s leg as he fell through a fourth-floor stair railing, saving him from a potentially fatal fall.

The footage shows the mother and son waiting outside the offices of a company called Monserrate construction, which is located inside the Laureles Colonial building in Medellín, Colombia reported El Espectador.

The young boy wanders over toward the stair railing and squats down, stumbles forward, and drops to his knees before falling head-first through the railing.

The mother then appears to look up from her phone—after having taken her eyes off the child only momentarily—and immediately lunges forward, grabbing his leg and pulling him back onto the fourth-floor balcony.

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As the mother began pulling the child back to safety, three women—said to be employees of Monserrate—can be seen running to her aid while a delivery man rushes downstairs, presumably under the assumption that the child has potentially fallen, Ladbible reported.

At this point, there have been no reports as to whether or not the child suffered any injuries during the incident.

Reactions

The CCTV video was later posted to Reddit and shared on various social media sites where it received mixed reactions.

Some people praised the mother’s quick reflexes while others criticized her lack of attention and awareness of the child’s environment.

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One Twitter user said: “I wouldn’t say mom of the year. She was busy on her phone and by the grace of god reacted in time.”

Another responded: I raised my 3 kids before cell phones. I can tell you that accidents happened even way back then despite not having cell phones to distract us! Give that poor woman a break!

One user pointed out: That’s a violation though they have to have glass or bars beneath the actual handrail for situations like that. Momma should sue, she’d get a whole lotta money!

Another said: “Awesome to see so many people come to help.”

US Infant, Child, and Teen Mortality Statistics

According to Childtrends.org, From 1980 to 2017, death rates for infants fell from 1,288.3 per 100,000 to 567 per 100,000. Similar trends are evident for child and teen mortality.

Death rates were highest among children under age 1, followed by children ages 15 to 19, 1 to 4, and 5 to 14.

A Child playing at the seashore. Daiga Ellaby/Unsplash

In all age groups, males had higher mortality rates than females. In 2017, males ages 15 to 19 were more than twice as likely as females to die (72.7 versus 29.4 deaths per 100,000).

Reflecting enduring effects of racism, black children consistently had the highest rates of death, while Asian/Pacific Islander children had the lowest rates in all age groups.