Toronto police say there is a “very active” investigation underway after a toddler fell to their death from a North York apartment building on Sunday, the fourth such incident to occur in Ontario in recent weeks.
Emergency crews were called to the scene at Don Mills Road and Graydon Hall Drive, near Highway 401 and the Don Valley Parkway, at approximately 12:20 p.m.
The toddler, whose age and gender have not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene.
While police have not said what led up to Sunday’s incident, it marks the fourth time since March that a child has fallen out of an apartment building and died.
On March 9, a four-year-old child fell from an apartment balcony in Mississauga and later died in hospital. A six-year-old girl fell to her death from an apartment building window in North York on April 26. A day later, in Ottawa, a four-year-old boy was killed after he fell from an apartment window in that city.
“It’s absolutely devastating to families and communities everywhere hearing this news. I mean, the loss of a young life is just totally unacceptable,” CTV News Public Safety Analyst and former Ontario Provincial Police commissioner Chris Lewis said Monday.
Police have to rule out criminality: former OPP commissioner
Lewis said that the investigation — which Toronto police told CTV News on Monday is “very active” — will now focus on how exactly the child killed in Sunday’s incident fell.
“So how, in fact, did this happen, is what is under investigation by police, not to suggest it was a criminal act of any kind, but they certainly have to rule that out,” he said.
Police wouldn’t say where the child fell from. CTV News has reached out to the building’s management company for a statement.
As the investigation continues and the temperature in the city starts to warm up, Lewis said there are things parents and guardians who live in highrises can do to protect their children.
In addition to clearing your apartment’s balcony (or any area near a window) of any furniture to prevent young children from climbing on them, mechanisms that lock windows and doors are also worth investing in, Lewis said. Conversations about safety while living in a condo are also worth having.
“These are the sorts of things that parents have to think about. And the poor parents in this case might have thought of all of that and just turned their head for one second, and something ungodly occurred,” he said.
