Toddler Dies After Falling from Scranton Apartment Window
By: Eric Deabill
Updated: March 19, 2012
Scranton, Lackawanna County - Scranton police and the coroner's office confirm that a two-year-old boy who fell from the window of an apartment building in Scranton Monday morning has died.
The boy fell from a 5th floor window at the Washington West Apartment Building at 537 North Washington Avenue around 10:30 AM.
The victim has been identified as two-year-old Brian Kochis of Scranton.
Scranton police spent hours on the scene investigating what happened.
Neighbors say Kochis often came to the building to visit his great-grandfather.
"It's sad. The minute I heard, I just started crying because I have two boys myself," Amy Toska of Scranton said.
Cathy Hunt lives in the apartment building. She was coming home and was one of the first people to see the toddler and rushed to help him.
"I was hysterical, hysterical and then I tried to calm down his grandmother and I was just hysterical as she was," Hunt said. "I know this little boy. He's the cutest, cutest child I've ever met."
As police investigated the toddler's death, evidence markers laid next to two small, black sneakers on the concrete.
People say Kochis was always in the building and loved to play and talk.
Deborah Burke saw Kochis just minutes before his fall.
"I just gave him a piece of cake before, within a second he went upstairs with his grandfather to eat the cake and all of a sudden we heard maintanence running and everything else," Burke said.
Just minutes after the tragic fall, the toddler's great-grandfather, Charles Williams, was taken to the hospital on a stretcher.
Investigators say Kochis went to look out of the window right before he fell. There was no screen in the window.
"Right now, you can see there is no screen there but as far as the regulations and the requirement, each apartment is equipped with screens," Karl Lynott from the Scranton Housing Authority said.
For many people, they're just trying to make sense of the tragedy.
"For something like this to happen, it's beyond understanding at this point," Jane Roberts said.
An autopsy on Brian Kochis is planned for Tuesday.
Officials with the Scranton Housing Authority plan to have grief counselors on hand to help anyone who is having trouble with the tragedy.
