Redmond Police, who did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment, said the boy had been left alone in a room when he pulled himself up to a window, pushed out a screen and fell out 70 feet. The boy’s mother was alerted to the situation when his 4-year-old sister called for help, the station added.
While luck played a part in the toddler’s survival, the Redmond Police Department hopes that parents keep their windows locked when a child is nearby, preventing such a tragic accident from occurring in the first place.
“When a small child is in a room with an open window, it doesn’t matter what floor you’re on, it doesn’t matter the season of the year,” Perry said. “Bad things can happen if a child has access to an open window.”
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The risk for children falling out of windows increases in the summer months, when families typically leave them open for ventilation during hot days.
In June 2017, four toddlers in San Jose, California, fell out of second- or third-story windows in just a two-week span, according to
“The best recommendation we have for parents is to move furniture away from a window’’ Dr. Adella Garland told the newspaper of the influx of accidents, adding, “window screens do not prevent falls.”
The pregnancy and parenting website Very Well Family recommends using a window guard or gate to keep a child from falling out, or installing a window stop or ledge that would prevent it from being opened more than four inches.