View from the third-floor bedroom where 18-month-old Jeremiah Holt fell to the front lawn. A baby pacifier and broken window blinds were found where the toddler landed. (Antonio Perez/Tribune)
An 18-month-old boy survived a fall from a third-floor window of a West Side apartment building this morning.
"This kid might be the luckiest kid the world," said Marcel Bright, a spokesman for Stroger Hospital, where the boy Jeremiah Holt was listed in serious condition.
Preliminary tests show the boy, who fell onto wet grass, suffered no broken bones. "He's moving around like an 18-month-old kid," said Bright, who said he saw the child when he was taken to the trauma unit.
The boy will be kept overnight for observation but could be released Thursday, Bright said.
The boy fell from the window of a building in the 5400 block of West Augusta Boulevard in the Austin community about 11 a.m., Chicago police said.
Jeremiah's aunt, Preeterraneika Lewis, said everyone inside of the apartment was asleep when a family member noticed the child was missing.
At about that time, Gaberiel Valentine was parking her car in a driveway next door and noticed the boy lying in muddy grass next to the building's front door. He was face down, his body tense and ants crawling on him, Valentine said.Next to the boy's body was a large concrete brick.
Another neighbor, Kimyata Presswood, was walking her dog when she also noticed the boy. Both women tried to comfort him while ringing door bells to find out whose child he was.
Jeremiah's mother, Tameika Sims, rushed outside. Lewis said the boy was breathing when paramedics left the scene.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is investigating whether there was neglect in connection with Jeremiah's fall, said DCFS spokesman Jimmie Whitelow. The agency has had no prior contact with Jeremiah's family.
Joanne Stanley, a 30-year neighborhood resident, said divine help was the only explanation for how the child survived the fall.
"That's amazing. It's like God had an angel over him," Stanley said.
--William Lee and Jeremy Gorner