Bovine intervention
Stuffed toy saves boy in second-story fall in Chelsea
A 2-year-old Chelsea boy was released from the hospital yesterday after his stuffed “miracle cow” broke his perilous fall from a second-floor window, police said.
Luis Estrada said he was watching a soccer game at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the living room of his Marlborough Street apartment while his great-nephew, Eduardo Gomez, played with the cow, or “Vaca,” he sometimes sleeps with in the next room.
Suddenly, Estrada said his 12-year-old niece called out, “My brother! My brother fell out the window!”
“It took just seconds,” Estrada, 55, said yesterday. “At first, I was paralyzed. Then I rushed outside and found him lying on his cow on the concrete.”
Although Eduardo was crying, he was “conscious and alert,” with only cuts and bruises, when officers and f iref ighters arrived, Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes said.
“Believe it or not, the cow broke his fall,” Deputy Fire Chief John Quatieri said. “It’s almost the same size he is. He was very lucky. In the 25 years I’ve been here, this is a first.”
Eduardo was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital as a precaution and was released yesterday, Kyes said.
Police believe he managed to climb onto the windowsill from a convertible sofa nearby, lost his balance and fell through a fly screen about 15 feet, clutching the stuffed animal, the chief said.
“Thank God for that cow,” he said. “I’m sure he’s going to keep it for many years to come. That was his guardian angel.”
No one was charged or cited in connection with the accident, Kyes said, but Eduardo’s fall could have been prevented if the window had the kind of child safety guard that some cities require landlords to install.
“If it saves the life of one little boy or girl,” the chief said, “it’s worth it.”
In his 30 years with the Chelsea police, about 15 children have fallen out of windows in the city, he said, although he could not recall any fatalities.
A bill introduced in January by state Sen. Mark C. Montigny (D-New Bedford) would give parents with children under 10 the right, at no charge, to have their landlord install window guards in their apartment and the common areas of their building.
Estrada said the family has locked the window — and plans to keep it that way.