Detroit EMS: Ambulance Was Sent for Boy in Fall

July 19--A 9-year-old boy was chastised for stealing water balloons just minutes before he jumped or fell from his ninth-floor apartment on Detroit's west side on Wednesday night, a relative said today.

In another development, Detroit EMS officials disputed reports that no ambulance showed up at the scene.

Chief Jerald James, who heads the EMS Division of the Detroit Fire Department, said an emergency vehicle was dispatched in just over one minute and arrived at the scene 12 minutes later. Detroit Police had already transported the boy to the hospital, James said. The division's average run time is 12 to 13 minutes, he said.

Pastor Barak Holmes Jr., who is a cousin of the boy's family, said the boy's 15-year-old sister was watching him and discovered he had stolen water balloons from a store. She called the child's older brother, who is about 20 years old, and he chastised the boy over the phone.

The sister told the boy she was going to spank him when they got in the home, Holmes said. The family lived in an apartment in the high-rise located in the 2500 block of West Grand Boulevard.

"When they got into the house, he ran in his room," he said.

The sister said she saw him on the ground downstairs when she got near the window. Holmes said he doesn't believe anybody else was home at the time.

"This is a very, very tragic incident," Holmes said. "It's terribly unfortunate."

Holmes said he doesn't know for sure if the young child jumped, but he thinks he may have.

"I don't believe he was able to truly rationalize the grave nature of what it was that he was preparing to do," said Holmes. "And, unfortunately, it cost him his young life."

The incident occurred about 5:30 p.m. at the low-income housing structure about one-half mile west of Henry Ford Hospital. According to Detroit police, the youth had threatened to commit suicide several times recently. No further details, including when the boy apparently made threats to take his own life, were released by police today.

Paramedics transported the boy's mother to the hospital because she was showing signs of medical problems related to the incident, James said. Holmes said the boy's mother has been released from the hospital but hasn't gone back to the apartment. The reality of what happened is setting in for his family.

"They're extremely distraught," Holmes said.

Barbara White, 24, lives in the Young Manor complex and heard a neighbor yell for someone to call 911. She rushed to the other side of the building and saw the boy's lifeless body lying on the ground.

"It's so sad," she said.

An autopsy on the boy will likely happen Friday, according to the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office.

Neighbors described the boy as a good kid who liked to play video games and skateboard.

Antonio Woods, a father of five who also lives in the building, said the child told him good morning as the two crossed paths Wednesday morning.

The manager of the Young Manor complex, who declined to give her name, said, "We hate that this incident happened."

She said her prayers are with the family. She said the complex had no other information and couldn't talk about window safety measures.

People who live in 10-story brick complex said there are security latches on windows that prevent them from fully opening, but many of those latches have been broken to allow air to circulate.

Copyright 2012 - Detroit Free Press