Toddler in critical condition after fall

A toddler suffered serious injuries to her face and head after a 36-foot fall from the window of an apartment yesterday, Framingham police said.

The 18-month-old girl fell from a fourth-floor window at Jefferson Village Apartments on Worcester Road at about 4:30 p.m., said Lieutenant Paul Shastany, a police spokesman.

The little girl, whose name was not released, was conscious and crying after falling face first onto a sidewalk in front of the building, Shastany said.

She was rushed to UMass Memorial Medical Center, where she was in critical condition last night.

Witnesses told police the child had been playing with the window screen, when it came loose and she fell out of the building, Shastany said.

Pam Johnson, who lives in a ground-floor apartment, said she saw the girl fall.

"She fell right past my window," Johnson said. "I didn't know it was a baby at first until I went and looked out the window."

Johnson said the toddler was bleeding from the nose and mouth.

"The baby wasn't making noise at first, but then started crying and moving her legs," she said.

Shastany said people should not count on their screens to keep children from falling out windows.

"Screens are not life-saving devices," Shastany said, "they're just methods to keep insects out."

Framingham police are investigating, but said they do not believe that the parents, who were in the apartment at the time, were negligent, Shastany said.

"It's not the case that the family was [in] parts unknown," he said. "Currently, negligence is not the cause. It appears accidental."

Phone calls last night to the management office at the apartment complex were not answered.