‘Terrifying situation had a happy ending’

OFFICER CATCHES BOY DROPPED FROM WINDOW BY MOTHER DURING APARTMENT FIRE

A mother trapped on the second floor of a burning apartment complex safely dropped her 2-year-old son from a window into the arms of a waiting Oklahoma City police officer on Thursday.

Takia Harding, 22, said the smoke in her apartment was so thick she had to hang her head out the window to breathe.

Officer Anthony Glover was waiting about 20 feet below, standing on sofa cushions as the boy dropped. He caught Tyree Polite in his outstretched arms.

“It was a relief he caught him,” Harding said. “His arms were open, and he held on tight.”

Firefighters were sent about 3 a.m. to the Brownstone Apartments, 2908 NW 28, fire Battalion Chief Benny Fulkerson said.

One person was taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and others were treated by paramedics at the scene.

Harding said she awoke about 2:55 a.m. to a loud commotion. When she opened her front door she saw flames and smoke and closed the door.

“We couldn’t get out on the breezeway,” Harding said. She

awoke Tyree and her mother, Lanetta Vick, and they dropped sofa cushions to the ground.

But there were not enough cushions to jump on, she said. So she screamed for help. Flames appeared on the ceiling as the officers arrived.

Vick and Harding used a ladder extended by firefighters to get out of the apartment shortly after the boy was dropped from the window.

On the scene

Fulkerson said police officers were on the scene before firefighters arrived and helped evacuate a number of people.

Police Sgt. Dave Hollis pulled down a section of a stockade fence so officers could get to the south side of the apartment building where Harding was screaming for help.

Police Lt. Jeff Spruill said another officer knocked on doors to evacuate residents as Hollis and Glover shouted for Harding to drop the boy.

“She makes what would be a terrifying decision for any parent to make,” Spruill said.

“She ultimately does, and Glover ends up being the one to catch him. What could have been an incredibly terrifying situation had a happy ending.”

The aftermath

Grandfather Tyrone Harding, 53, held Tyree while Takia Harding lined up at a mobile Red Cross station to make arrangements for assistance after the fire was extinguished.

Tyree was tired and a bit cranky, but unharmed.

The fire was caused by candles used as a light source by tenants who had moved in before their electricity was hooked up, Fulkerson said.

Eight of the 18 units were damaged by the fire, Fulkerson said, with an estimated 37 people displaced.

[PHOTO BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN] Takia Harding dropped her 2-year-old son from this second-floor window into the arms of an Oklahoma City police officer during a fire at the Brownstone Apartments.

[PHOTO BY ROBERT MEDLEY, THE OKLAHOMAN] Takia Harding holds her son, Tyree Polite, 2, whom she dropped from a second-floor apartment to be rescued from a fire. Tyree was caught by Oklahoma City police officer Anthony Glover.

Oklahoma City police officer Anthony Glover

[PHOTO BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN] Left: A fire damaged units at the Brownstone Apartments, 2908 NW 28 in Oklahoma City.

[PHOTO BY ROBERT MEDLEY, THE OKLAHOMAN] Below: Sgt. Dave Hollis tore down this fence to reach a window to rescue Tyree Polite, 2, who was dropped from the second floor by his mother during an apartment fire. The mother came out of windows on a ladder.

Oklahoma City police Sgt. Dave Hollis