For the second time in a week, a small child has fallen from an apartment window in the Wausau area. The latest incident occurred Wednesday morning, when a two year old toddler in Schofield pushed against a second story window screen and fell to a parking lot, suffering only minor injuries.
Everest Metro police Chief Dan Vergin says the first incident happened last weekend when a 4 year old Weston boy fell from a window. Vergin says the cases are not part of a bigger trend. "I don't think we found any neglect," says Vergin. "In the first case, we know that the mother had scolded the child, taken him away from the window and closed it, and the child was still able to open the window and pushed his way through." The four year-old was airlifted to St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield.
Vergin cautions parents to move furniture away from windows and keep an eye on children. "Screens are screens," says Vergin. "They're not meant to restrain people from going through them, even small children. They're meant to keep flies and mosquitoes out, they're not designed as a safety feature.