INDEPENDENCE, Mo.—The father of a 3-year-old boy who tumbled out of the eighth-story window of a Missouri apartment building and died has been charged with child endangerment, along with his girlfriend.
No attorney is listed for either of them in online court records.
Emergency crews rushed Monday to their apartment building in the Kansas City suburb of Independence after a fourth-floor resident called to report seeing the child fall. The boy was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
According to online court records, the father and his girlfriend had known for months about problems securing the window in the room where the boy and two other children lived. The father told investigators that neighbors and building management had alerted them that the children were throwing toys out of the window.
And the girlfriend told police that she had long been concerned that one of the children would fall out of the window but still left them in the room unattended for long periods.
The probable cause statement said the apartment was piled with trash, and the other two children were placed in state protective custody. One of the children described being whipped in an interview.
Resident Elliot West told The Kansas City Star earlier this week that people in the building had their windows open because central air conditioning hasn’t been working throughout the summer. Weather on Monday was humid with a temperature in the mid-90s.